Susan Gwin: Early Signs Indicate a Strong 2012 via D magazine

Two months into 2012, and indicators are signaling a local market uptick and a healing in our economy. We are seeing more of a promise of sovereign funds entering our office market in a potentially significant way, and it is bringing a renewed excitement to the landscape. Whereas in days gone by we were passed over by those same funds for the higher profile “gateway” cities, mirrored more recently by certain institutional players who narrowed their focus and abandoned various primary markets to the gateways for liquidity purposes, the foreign players are now taking note of the pluses in the Lone Star State. So also are new capital and acquisition players that have never previously entered our market, and some who did indeed enter it only in the last couple of years have loudly said they are here to stay.

Even better news yet, the lending community for the most part is predicting more capital is targeted at commercial real estate in 2012 and in much greater volumes and across multiple sources, i.e., commercial banks, life companies, and, yes, even CMBS originators. Unlike the roller-coaster ride last year, CMBS originators are predicting a 2012 volume as high as $50 billion. Last Friday’s market rally was an uplifting indication of good things to come, fueled by better than expected U.S. home sales and higher consumer confidence levels.

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