| Cambridge, particularly East Cambridge, is leading the regional markets out of the recession, according to JLL's Peter Bekarian, right, whom we snaped at JLL's market briefing Wednesday withTamie Thompson and Dermot Roe. The biotech and life science companies that predominate the CRE space there, much of it labs, were not deeply damaged by the recession. As a result, Greater Boston ended the year with net absorption of 264k SF, compared with the negative 499k SF registered a year earlier. Average asking rents, $41.89, are up from $39.98 at the end of '09. In Boston, Bill Motley (not pictured) tells us a flurry of Q4 leases bylaw firms et al seeking to take advantage of favorable terms will make the early ?11 pipeline somewhat slimmer than anticipated. |
| Scott Jamieson tells we're still far from an average investment sales market, but '10 was better than '09, and ?11 will be another growth year. As prices trend toward ?normal,? Scott is seeing morewilling sellers, including special servicers. Lenders are starting to take back assets, winding down the ?extend and pretend? scenario of recent years. Scott tells us some local banks want to move assets off the books ASAP. Sales activity is being supported by a debt market that came back faster and stronger than anticipated through all the usual channels: banks, life companies, and CMBS conduits. In some cases, good sponsors with good assets are seeing the return of IO and non-recourse loans. With all submarkets closing '10 with positive absorption, ?capital wants to be in Boston.? |
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