Real Estate Daily News Buzz November 16, 2015

Real Estate Daily News Buzz is designed to give news snippets to readers that our (yet to be award winning) editors thought you could use to start your day. They come from various business perspectives, real estate, government, the Fed, local news, and the stock markets to save you time. Here you will find the headlines and what the news buzz of the day will be.

Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 202.83 points, or 1.2%, to 17,245.24. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index gave up 22.93 points, or 1.1%, to 2,023.04. The NASDAQ composite index slipped 77.20 points, or 1.5%, to 4,927.88.

U.S. crude slumped $1.01, or 2.4 per cent, to $40.74 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, which is used to price international oils, lost 45 cents, or 1 per cent, to $43.61 a barrel in London. In other energy trading, heating oil fell 2.5 cents to $1.381 a gallon. Wholesale gasoline dipped 3.4 cents to $1.239 a gallon. Natural gas rose 10.1 cents to $2.361 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Retail gets slammed as stocks have second-worst week of year — The stock market slumped to its second-biggest weekly loss of the year Friday, breaking six consecutive weeks of gains. Fears that the holiday shopping season will be a dud tanked retail stocks. Retailers ranging from department stores to dollar stores plunged after Nordstrom posted disappointing third-quarter results, just as Macy’s had done earlier this week. The price of oil continued to slide on evidence that global supplies are continuing to rise. The dollar could get even stronger, further pressuring oil and other commodities and affecting mining and energy companies.

US retail sales crawl upward in Oct., led by online shopping — Americans ramped up their online shopping and restaurant spending in October, but barely-there inflation kept overall retail sales growth muted. The Commerce Department said Friday that retail sales rose a seasonally adjusted 0.1% last month, after being unchanged in September and August. Over the past 12 months, sales have risen 1.7%. Lower gasoline costs and meagre inflation have downplayed the extent of consumer spending, as the retail sales report is not adjusted for price changes. The U.S. economy has increasingly relied on consumers to propel growth.

Macy’s CFO Reveals 4 Reasons the Company Blew It Last Quarter “Macy’s sales and traffic are slowing ahead of the all-important holiday shopping season. The department store chain cut its annual profit forecast on Wednesday after posting a quarterly sales decline of 5.2%, with same-store sales falling 3.9%. The company’s chief financial officer, Karen Hoguet, blamed Macy’s performance on four problems.” (Business Insider)

Blackstone to Buy $3 Billion in Calpers Real Estate Fund Stakes “Blackstone Group LP agreed to buy $3 billion of real estate fund stakes from the California Public Employees’ Retirement System. Blackstone’s Strategic Partners unit will acquire Calpers’ share in 43 funds, according to a statement Thursday from the New York-based firm. In June, Calpers said it would sell as much as $3 billion of its real estate portfolio as part of a broader plan to reduce costs and invest with fewer asset managers.” (Bloomberg)

Brooklyn Startup Supplies the Apartment, Furniture, and Roommates “This is the first building run by Common, a startup using tech amenities and rent-as-you-go flexibility to lure peripatetic urbanites with movable jobs and freelancer incomes. The price tag per bedroom—the size ranges from 100 sq. ft. to 150 sq. ft.—is $1,800 to $1,950 a month. That includes utilities and house basics like cooking oil, salt, paper towels, and Swiffers.” (Bloomberg)

Massachusetts Regulator Charges Realty Capital with Proxy Voting Fraud “Massachusetts’ top securities regulator on Thursday said he has charged Realty Capital Securities LLC with fradulently casting shareholder proxy votes. An administrative complaint filed by Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin seeks to revoke the broker-dealer registration of Realty Capital, an affiliate of American Realty Capital.” (Reuters)

What Mezzanine Lenders Have Learned Since the Last Crisis “While deal structure and documentation on mezzanine debt has been consistent over the years, panelists at a recent conference hosted by the Information Management Network discussed some of lessons that mezz lenders and investors learned from the last downturn. The panelists, who spoke at the conference at The Union League Club in Midtown Manhattan on Tuesday, pointed to the Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village and Equity Inns Portfolio defaults as cautionary tales against multi-tranche mezzanine deals.” (Commercial Observer)

4 Ways to Kick-Start Your Career in Real Estate Investment “Much like the stock market, in real estate we’re always skulking and waiting, ready to pounce on what we believe is the perfect time to jump into the market. I’m here to tell you — don’t keep waiting. You can spend the next few years waiting for the perfect time, but if you have the startup funds and are eyeing a particular set of properties at a good deal, it’s best not to wait.” (Entrepreneur)

Warren Buffet Buys Dallas Real Estate Firm “Billionaire Warren Buffett is getting in on the Dallas real estate market. An affiliate of his firm Bershire Hathaway, HomeServices of America, Inc., has purchased Dallas-based Allie Beth Allman & Associates. The real estate company specializes in luxury properties with $1.5 billion in sales last year.” (WFAA)

$6B in Miami CMBS Loans Are About to Mature. Here’s the Upside “If you want to understand why the once intimidating “wall” of commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) set to mature between 2015 and 2017 has pretty much crumbled, take a look at Miami. Close to $6B in CMBS loans will come due in the next two years in this gateway city, yet thanks to an explosion in foreign investment, rock-bottom interest rates and price appreciation that has pushed valuations close to pre-recession peaks, that reckoning no longer portends economic doom. Instead, the wave of CMBS maturities has turned into an investment opportunity.” (Bisnow)

Retailers Give the Santa Experience a Makeover “Getting your kids’ picture taken with Santa used to mean miles-long lines, whining children and a check of your watch every few interminable minutes. While that may still be the case at some shopping centers across the U.S., several big-name property owners are giving the traditional visit with Santa Claus a total makeover. After last year’s hit partnership with Disney’s “Frozen,” Taubman Centers this season is teaming up with the cast of “Peanuts” for a new edition of its interactive ice palaces, at 10 of its properties.” (CNBC)

Target Finally Bringing its Small-Format Urban Stores to Manhattan “Target’s small format city stores are finally coming to the ultimate urban jungle: Manhattan. The retailer’s chain of small- or mid-size urban stores, aimed at winning over city dwellers or office workers who don’t want to go to its suburban big box locations, will open its first Manhattan location next year. The store will be a two-level, 45,000 square-foot location (about the size of a larger Barnes & Noble, and a third of the size of a regular Target) in Manhattan’s trendy TriBeCa neighborhood.” (Fortune)

Big deal momentum may carry into 2016 for health care – 2015 has become the year of the megadeal, with $2 trillion in buyouts since January. It has been fueled by free money in a zero-interest rate environment, but with the Fed appearing increasingly keen on hiking rates, that party may be coming to an end. That is, unless you’re in health care. Almost one out of every four dollars in takeovers this year involved a company in health care, and the size of those deals is immense. Compared with five years ago the total value of health care mergers and acquisitions in the United States has more than tripled, according to the data firm Dealogic.