Moody's: CRE Prices Fell in December

Commercial real estate prices were down 1.5% in December, compared with a decline of 0.2% in November, according to Moody's Investors Service. "The last few months of the index have represented a bit of a plateau, but one with more 'down months' than 'up months'," said Sally Gordon, a Moody's analyst and senior vice president. "The asymmetry of the number of months when prices increased or decreased is striking and clearly indicative of where we are in the real estate cycle -- the beginnings of a downturn after a long run-up in prices." The findings are based on indices maintained by the rating agency. Meanwhile, Standard & Poor's, another rating agency, has reported that commercial real estate prices were 4.9% higher in November than they were a year earlier. Regionally, the mid-Atlantic South is the only region showing an annual decline, at 1.9%, S&P reported. In addition, the apartment sector showed its first positive return in eight months. Annual CRE returns flattened on a national basis, but "it would be premature to assume that this indicates an end to the deceleration in commercial real estate prices seen in prior months, and visible in both the sector and regional indices," said David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P. The rating agencies can be found online at http://www.moodys.com and http://www.standardandpoors.com.