Commercial real estate executives are now viewing their industry more favorably and expect slightly improved market conditions this year, according to an index compiled by the Real Estate Roundtable.
However, RER chairman Daniel M. Neidich said the improvement in sentiment is tempered by the ongoing risk of rising unemployment.
The overall sentiment index for the first quarter is 77, up three points over the reading taken in 4Q. Survey respondents are looking for 2011 to return to a more typical year for CRE, where buyers and sellers are competing for deals on reasonable valuations, and with debt and equity providers playing a more normalized role in the market.
The survey quotes one unnamed CEO as saying, "real estate has slowly been picking up speed and I think this year we will have momentum. Maybe not as much as we'd like, but momentum nonetheless."
Participants also expressed optimism that the commercial mortgage-backed securities market will start the long process of rebuilding. One executive said, "I see CMBS coming back this year, not to its peak," projecting upwards of $50 billion in deals in 2011. "It will be a little like CMBS was in 2005," he said.
