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CNL occupies two towers that flank Orlando City Hall downtown.

Orlando-based CNL Financial Group and Sydney’s Macquarie Group have joined forces for the first time to establish a new global REIT, CNL Macquarie Global Growth Trust Inc., which will pursue opportunities in just about every sector of commercial real estate in various areas around the world. The partners can afford to think big, as the proposed total offering for the REIT is $1.5 billion.

CNL going on a global buying spree

ORLANDO, Fla. – Oct. 27, 2009 – CNL Macquarie Global Growth Trust Inc. announced its first public offering of $1.5 billion common shares for a new real-estate investment trust, with CNL Financial Group of Orlando serving as managing dealer.

The move marks the first partnership between the CNL group and the Australian-based Macquarie Capital Funds, an affiliate of Macquarie Group Limited, which has more than $189 billion of global assets.

Unlike traditional income-driven trusts, the product announced Thursday is growth-oriented rather than income driven, said a spokesman for CNL. The focus will be on acquiring commercial office, retail, industrial and multifamily properties that may “require repositioning or redevelopment” and that may face financial deadlines or be in markets with growth potential, according to a statement released by CNL on Thursday morning.

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WASHINGTON (AP) – Oct. 27, 2009 – Top Democrats in the Senate are pressing a plan that would extend a popular tax credit for first-time homebuyers but gradually phase it out over the course of next year.

The proposal, by Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., would extend the $8,000 tax credit – which expires Nov. 30 – through March 31. Its value would drop by $2,000 for each of the subsequent three quarters of 2010.

The plan, which could face a vote in the Senate this week, appears aimed at countering a far more generous $17 billion bipartisan plan that would extend the $8,000 credit through June 30, 2010, boost the income cap for eligibility and open the credit to all buyers, rather than first-timers.
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Pending home sales rise again

WASHINGTION – Nov. 2, 2009 – Pending home sales rose again, marking eight consecutive monthly gains – the longest streak since measurement began in 2001, according to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR).

The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in September, rose 6.1 percent to 110.1 from a reading of 103.8 in August, and is 21.2 percent higher than September 2008 when it stood at 90.9. The gain from a year ago is the largest annual increase on record, and the index is at the highest level since December 2006 when it was 112.8.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said the momentum is understandable. “What we’re witnessing is a rush of first-time buyers trying to beat the expiration of the tax credit at the end of this month,” he says. “Home values will stabilize sooner rather than over-correcting. That, in turn, will mean wealth stabilization for the vast number of middle-class families and lay the foundation for a durable economic recovery.”
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September sales skyrocket as market approaches equilibrium
 
Real estate expert Barbara Corcoran listed Sarasota as the number one place in the nation to buy a property in her latest “hot market” prognostication. She cited the lower property prices – 30 percent below last year at this time – combined with a recent price surge of 13 percent in the last quarter, plus Sarasota’s unique “metropolitan” cultural appeal for boosting this area to the top spot.
 
On the Oct. 6th Today Show, Corcoran said Sarasota was the top place to buy real estate in the nation today, an opinion shared by SAR and most area real estate professionals.
 
As a confirmation of Corcoran’s report, home and condo sales jumped by 35 percent in September 2009, compared to the same month last year, and 9.7 percent from the August 2009 stats in the Sarasota market. Total sales stood at 554 in September, compared to 409 total sales in September 2008. The breakdown was 399 single family homes and 155 condos sold last month.
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High-end homes: is the tide turning?

HORSHAM, Penn. – Aug. 14, 2009 – High-end homes appear to be selling better than analysts thought.

Toll Brothers (TOL), the nation’s largest luxury homebuilder, on Aug. 12 announced its first year-over-year increase in signed home contracts since 2005, suggesting that first-time buyers might not be alone in driving improving U.S. home sales.

The Horsham [Pa.]-based builder said that signed contracts in the quarter ended July 31 – though still low by historic standards – rose 3 percent, to 837, compared with the same period a year ago. But revenues fell 42 percent in the quarter, to $461.3 million. The company also said it has been able to reduce buyer incentives in several markets as demand and contract cancellations improve.

“Mood has changed”

No other major builder has matched Toll Brothers’ 3 percent increase in contracts signed, though a few reported a 2 percent improvement in the most recent quarter, said Barclays Capital analyst Megan McGrath in New York. The average quarterly decline in new home contracts for major public builders was about 14 percent, she said.

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MIAMI – Aug. 4, 2009 – Jose Garcia looks over the contract for his Gables Estates home with Realtor Audrey Ross, who deals with the ultra-luxury housing market. The price of Garcia’s home: Just under $20 million.

Elite Realty. “Now, we’re getting five, six, 10 families coming through. I’m really praying and keeping my fingers crossed this is a permanent thing.”

Confidence seems to be returning, as well as a rising tide of money from outside the country, positive signs for both the high-end housing market, and the real estate market in general. Demand fed by foreign money has always been a critical piece of the real estate puzzle in South Florida.

“We’re on our way out of the worst (of the economic downturn)” said Manny Mesa, a Doral-based trial lawyer who is hunting for a bigger home for his wife and four children.

On Thursday, he toured the digs of former Miami Heat point guard Tim Hardaway. Hardaway is asking $3.9 million for the five-bedroom, five-bath home on almost two acres in the Pinecrest area. It boasts a six-foot coral rock wall for privacy and a closet the size of a very large bedroom.

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WASHINGTON – Aug. 4, 2009 – Pending home sales are up for the fifth consecutive month, the first time in six years for such a streak, according to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR).

The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in June, rose 3.6 percent to 94.6 from an upwardly revised reading of 91.3 in May; and it’s 6.7 percent above June 2008 when it was 88.7. The last time there were five consecutive monthly gains was July 2003.

“Historically low mortgage interest rates, affordable home prices and large selection are encouraging buyers who’ve been on the sidelines,” says Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist. “Activity has been consistently much stronger for lower priced homes. Because it may take as long as two months to close on a home after signing a contract, first-time buyers must act fairly soon to take advantage of the $8,000 tax credit because they must close on the sale by Nov. 30.”

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ORLANDO, Fla. – Aug. 3, 2009 – Even as Americans suffer rising unemployment, foreclosure rates in three states hit hardest by the housing bust – California, Arizona and Florida – stabilized in June, offering hope that the worst of the real estate crisis is over, according to The Associated Press’ monthly analysis of economic stress in more than 3,100 U.S. counties.

The latest results of AP’s Economic Stress Index show foreclosure and bankruptcy rates held steady from May in some states. Yet mounting unemployment is hampering an economic recovery in some regions, especially the Southeast and industrial Midwest.

The AP calculates a score from 1 to 100 based on each county’s unemployment, foreclosure and bankruptcy rates. The higher the score, the higher the economic stress. The average county’s Stress score rose to 10.6 in June, up from 10 in May, mainly because of rising unemployment.

In June 2008, the average county’s Stress score was 6.7. The pain was lower then because the economy was still expanding. In fact, the second quarter of 2008 was the last time the economy grew.

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WASHINGTON – Aug. 3, 2009 – It was – note the past tense – the worst housing recession anyone but survivors of the Great Depression can remember.

From the frenzied peak of the real estate boom in 2005-2006 to the recession’s trough earlier this year, home resales fell 38 percent and sales of new homes tumbled 76 percent. Construction of homes and apartments skidded 79 percent. And for the first time in more than four decades of record keeping, home prices posted consecutive annual declines.

A staggering $4 trillion in home equity was wiped out, and millions of Americans lost their homes through foreclosure.

Now take a deep breath and exhale. The worst is over.

By every measure, except foreclosures, the housing market has stabilized and many areas are recovering, according to a spate of data released in the past two weeks. Nationwide, home resales in June are up 9 percent from January, on a seasonally adjusted basis. Sales of new homes have climbed 17 percent during the same period. And construction, while still anemic, has risen almost 20 percent since the beginning of the year.

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(Shirley International Realty offers the most detailed & highest quality MLS Listings in the State of Florida. Ask how we can put you on MLS, without having to pay high listing commissions. Saving money, while selling your home is our goal in selling real estate..)

Commissions pressured beyond discounting
Savvy buyers, sellers tap new business models for more savings
By Susan Romero
Inman News Features
The competition for listings between so-called “traditional” realty brokerages and commission discounters kicks up a lot of dust, but when the air clears it’s apparent that cut-rate brokerages aren’t the only force putting downward pressure on realty commissions as a percentage of the home sales price.

Fee-for-service brokerages, Internet-savvy buyers, skyrocketing home prices, a dearth of listings in some markets and some sellers’ notion that they can sell their home without paying an agent are among the other factors bearing down on conventional realty pricing structures.

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