Downtown Landlords Expand Ground-Floor Horizons
If downtown Boston fully regains its retail footings, it will be through discarding cookie-cutter leasing strategies reliant on fast-casual franchises and clothing chains.
With Banks Pulling Back, Who’s Financing Office Deals?
Behind the scenes of Boston’s troubled office market, landlords and lenders are seeking ways to restructure their existing debt, keep control of properties and avoid foreclosure.
New Entrant Wades into Listings Portal War
If you’re like most house hunters these days, you started your search online. And chances are, you overlooked Homes.com entirely. But starting in the new year, the site is planning to give the two heavyweights a run for their money.
Cost of Debt Weighs on CRE Outlook
After a decade-long expansion, real estate investors and developers are confronting the reality that investment will be more selective in 2024 – perhaps even the most challenging financing climate in over a decade.
Boston Leads Innovation Clusters’ Prospects in CRE Survey
Boston’s commercial real estate is the most resilient North American innovation cluster in adjusting to the pandemic era shifts in demand, according to a report on 2023 market trends.
Apartment Rents Shatter All-Time Records
Apartment rents have blasted past pre-COVID levels in Greater Boston as demand returned to both downtown and suburban markets while the new supply pipeline declined.
The COVID Apartment Market Offers Few Silver Linings for Renters
Is it possible this situation might at least temporarily create housing opportunities that would be accessible to moderate or middle-income families, who could now afford to save money on housing?
CoStar Buys Real Estate Software Platform Homesnap
Commercial real estate listings and data giant CoStar waded into the residential real estate space Monday, announcing a $250 million deal to acquire Homesnap.
Sublease Market Spikes as Companies Rethink Real Estate
Local commercial real estate researchers are tracking nearly 500,000 square feet of sublease space in Greater Boston that’s hit the market since mid-March as the area faces questions about the future of office space and a sizable construction pipeline.
LoopNet Adds Meeting Function for Virtual Tours
The largest platform for commercial real estate listings is launching a service that combines virtual building tours with an online meeting capability for up to 20 participants simultaneously.
Greater Boston’s Life Science Boom Threatens Housing Production
Boston and a handful of inner suburbs have played an outsized role in Massachusetts’ recent multifamily housing production. What happens if multifamily developers can’t bid enough to acquire urban development sites in the first place?
With Lenders Cool on Luxury Projects, Offices Take Center Stage
While developers of new office towers are betting on no recession, or a very shallow one, apartment and condo builders are clearly looking at the future a bit more warily. Both sides can’t be right here.
Is There a Life After WeWork?
If WeWork’s IPO troubles turn into bankruptcy and departure from the scene at the same time as a broader economic downturn, the downtown commercial real estate market could take a dramatic turn, researchers warn.
The Retail Apocalypse Has Come to Boston
While the urban core in Boston and its environs appears poised for continued growth amid an explosion of luxury condominium and apartment towers, it’s a different picture in the suburbs, where the loss of major anchor stores is hitting the hardest.
Don’t Expect a Crash in Boston’s Luxury Market
Boston’s high-flying luxury apartment market is surely headed for a landing of some sort. The only question now is what just exactly what kind of landing it will be.
Feds Ease Commercial Lending Appraisal Rules
Commercial investors will get more flexibility and save money on small-ticket transactions now that federal regulators have increased the threshold requiring an independent third-party appraisal.
Banks Become Wary Of Development Risk
Commercial real estate valuations have hit all-time highs nationally and Greater Boston is in the midst of a massive multifamily building boom skewed toward high-end properties, raising concerns about future risks. Nearly a third of banks have tightened standards on development and construction loans, according to a recent Federal Reserve survey
