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Commercial Market Part of Real Estate's Big Picture
TortoWheaton Research provides an insight into commercial market trends.
BY CHRIS LEPORINI
Even if commercial real estate isn’t your forte, it’s still worth your time to monitor the sector’s performance. The commercial market often serves as an indicator of future residential trends, functioning as an early warning system for home sales’ ups and downturns. As businesses downsize, office and industrial vacancies rise. And people without jobs aren’t too likely to be buying homes. TortoWheaton Research, one leading commercial real estate resource is a good starting point for learning more about the commercial side of the business. Backed by CB Richard Ellis, the company is a leader in market research, analysis and econometric forecasting across multiple property-types. TortoWheaton Research’s home page offers several free areas for real estate practitioners who want to keep their fingers on the pulse of commercial activity.
The weekly “About Real Estate,” column written by a staff economists, zeroes in on a different real estate-related issue every week. For instance, the article for the week of October 8th examines the looming recession’s projected impact on industrial vacancies. The article are brief, but usually include valuable statistics and insights. Users can also subscribe to receive this feature via e-mail as well as access past articles.
The site’s “News” section provides reports on current events such as the implications of the terrorist attacks on the real estate industry. Additionally, the site archives company press releases in its “In the News” section. Visitors to willing to weed through a few company-oriented press releases will find solid information; many of the press releases cover issues such as office space demand and real estate business cycles. These concise reports don’t examine issues in detail, but they give users a quick snapshot of the commercial market. Users can access these reports in either PDF or HTML format.
Other free materials include full-fledged research papers on a number of commercial real estate topics, from telecommuting’s effects on office space demand to a comparison of investment real estate’s volatility to that of stocks and bonds. On the downside, some of the reports are not particularly up to date. The research section also provides semi-annual global office space reports, a self-described snapshot of prime office space demand around the world. These 16-page, PDF files, based on data from commercial brokerage giant CB Richard Ellis, provide data on office rents and occupancy costs in major markets worldwide.
Remember, people don’t buy houses in a vacuum. Even if you specialize in residential sales, keeping an eye on the commercial market can give you a valuable, big-picture perspective on the real estate industry. TortoWheaton Research is a great place to locate and gain an understanding of the information you need to build this expertise.
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Suggest a Site For Review
Every week, REALTOR® Magazine Online's Web review editor surfs the Internet to find sites useful to your business and off-hours lives. Have a favorite real estate Web site that you would like to see reviewed? Send your suggestions to Chris Leporini at mediatech@realtors.org. All decisions on which sites will be reviewed are completely at the discretion of REALTOR® Magazine Online's editorial staff. Please note: this column does not review individual practitioner or brokerage sites.
The column's focus includes free sites, as well as sites that charge for goods and services, but which still offer a free component of practical, sustained value to real estate practitioners, such as a free newsletter or regular news information.
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REALTOR® Magazine Online's "Web Review" summarizes the content of Web sites that may be of interest to members. NAR and REALTOR® Magazine Online are not responsible for, and nothing in the Web site profile shall constitute NAR's or REALTOR® Magazine Online's endorsement of, the web site, its content, products and services, or its provider. NAR and REALTOR® Magazine Online believe the information contained in this profile was correct and accurate as of the time it was prepared, but do not warrant or guarantee the accuracy or completeness of that information and are not responsible for changes in the Web site. Members should conduct their own independent review of the Web site prior to any use of Web site, its content, products, or services to determine their suitability for the member's intended purpose. | |
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