Mortgage meltdown dampens state’s commercial real estate outlook
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commercial real estate, Mortgage Meltdown March 18th, 2008GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Fallout from the subprime meltdown is now spreading from the residential to commercial real estate sectors, but the outlook for Florida remains stable because of the fundamentals of good climate and in-migration, according to the latest University of Florida survey.
“It sounds like an old song resung, but our respondents are still keeping the faith in the real estate market,” said Wayne Archer, director of UF’s Bergstrom Center for Real Estate Studies. “It’s not that we don’t see some lessening of the market, but it’s nothing like the sensational doom that dominates the news about residential housing.”
The latest quarterly survey of Florida real estate trends completed in January and released this week shows declining optimism about commercial real estate, which had been a bulwark in the property market, Archer said. Occupancy is expected to fall for industrial, office and retail property, as rental rates are beginning to lag inflation, signaling that real rates (adjusted for inflation) may fall, he said.
Respondents continue to expect only slightly more decline in the sales for new single-family homes, while the picture for condominiums, although more pessimistic, has improved slightly, he said.
Tags: commercial real estate, Mortgage Meltdown
