“Water, water, every where, And all the boards did shrink; Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink.” (From The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge) Water is emerging as a foundational consideration in real estate investment. Vital to our survival, but taken for granted in most developed countries, a convergence… Read more

Context For most of the last 40 years, the mention of “energy” and “real estate” in the same sentence evoked discussion of conservation and efficiency. Today, generation and transmission of power are coming to be viewed as critical real estate intensive activities. How we fuel electric power creation is coming to affect all facets of… Read more

Energy, jobs, and the far-reaching influence of the Millennial generation are the issues that will have the most significant impact on real estate both near-and long-term, according to The Counselors of Real Estate® organization. The CRE Top Ten Issues Affecting Real Estate, developed annually by The Counselors of Real Estate External Affairs Committee, considers independent… Read more

FASB-IASB Lease Accounting Saga Moves Into a Fourth Year The US Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) and the International Accounting Standards Board (“IASB”) have been working together on a Lease Accounting project since late 2009/early 2010. The original proposal was released in August 2010 and created significant controversy in the real estate community. After multiple… Read more

Overview State and local budget constraints and the continuing priority of job creation have created a tumultuous environment for public private partnerships, generating a host of issues and opportunities. These fall principally in the areas of community development and “city-building,” the traditional realm of our professional involvement. The emerging “P-3” of private development, ownership, and… Read more

The Counselors of Real Estate Top Ten Issues in 2013   The growing integration of global and local economies, rising economic and political uncertainty, and the need for thoughtful analysis of industry trends inspired The Counselors of Real Estate to initiate its first annual Top 10 Issues Affecting Real Estate report in July 2012. The… Read more

Resource Competition Escalates, Highlighting Imperative for Sustainability Strategies to Look Beyond Energy Number Eight on our CRE hit parade of the “Top Ten Issues Defining the Future of the Real Estate Industry” in 2012 was sustainability. Much of the attention to sustainability in the real estate realm centers on energy efficiency and the efficient use… Read more

Capital Markets Further Unlocked in 2013   Right-10: CMBS property delinquencies remaining below 10%; Left-250: The 10-Year Treasury not rising above 2.5%; Right-150: Aggregate new office, industrial and retail new construction  remaining below 150msf; Left-6:  Average Cap rates for Class A commercial real estate assets in core MSAs not rising above 6% as interest rates rise in 2H2013 with… Read more

Philadelphia Pioneers New Infrastructure Investment Approach – a Case Study The inaugural Counselors External Affairs Alert (EAC Alert) identified infrastructure funding and the integration of sustainable practices as two of 10 critical issues society must address. Philadelphia’s ground breaking – or better, wave-making – storm water approach provides a creative example of how regions can… Read more

An International Conference of The Counselors of Real Estate was recently held in Vienna, Austria from June 3rd to June 5th. We thought it appropriate that our first International Alert focus on a summary of key insights and observations that were forthcoming from that conference. The major take-away from the conference was an indisputable awareness… Read more