CRE Investor Frenzy Subsiding, Survey Finds

Commercial real estate fundamentals are improving, but the "frenzy of interest" shown by investors in recent months is subsiding, according to a quarterly investor survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers.Another finding of the PricewaterhouseCoopers Korpacz Real Estate Investor Survey is that 25 of 31 downtown office markets tracked by Cushman & Wakefield, and 38 of 40 suburban office markets, experienced declines in vacancy rates between the fourth quarter of 2004 and the fourth quarter of 2005. "A growing U.S. economy, steady gains in employment, and limited levels of speculative construction continue to have a positive impact on the real estate industry's underlying fundamentals," said Peter Korpacz, director of the PricewaterhouseCoopers Global Strategic Real Estate Research Practice. ".... [T]he frantic level at which properties have been trading has slowed to a more measured pace." The company can be found on the Web at http://www.pwcglobal.com.