WASHINGTON — Home construction surged 10.

5 percent in August from a month

earlier to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 598,000, the Commerce Department said
Tuesday. That's the highest level since April.

Pulling the figures up was a 32 percent monthly increase in the condominium and
apartment market, a small portion of the market. Single-family homes, which represented
about 73 percent of the market in August, grew more than 4 percent.

Building permit applications, a sign of future activity, grew by nearly 2 percent to an

annual rate of 569,000

Lennar Corp., a major builder based in Miami, said Monday the number of buyers
signing agreements to purchase its homes fell 15 percent from a year ago in the three
months ended August 31.
Construction activity rose 34 percent in the West and was up 22 percent in the Midwest
and 7 percent in the South. However, construction fell by 24 percent in the Northeast.
(http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39284971/ns/business-real_estate/)

Manhattan-The median price for an apartment sold hit a whopping $890,000, according
to broker Brown Harris Stevens and the Halstead Group. For The Corcoran Group, the
price was $900,000; Prudential Douglas Elliman came in at $914,000.
( (http://money.cnn.com/2010/10/01/real_estate/manhattan_home_prices/index.htm)

The totality of US commercial real estate value equates to apx $6 trillion with 3 trillion of
outstanding debt of which 2 trillion is due over the next few years. Currently there is no
financing available for these maturing loans on properties over leveraged with high
vacancies and falling values. These conditions are unprecedented in terms of the size of
the problem and the timing coinciding with the desperate economic conditions we are
currently facing. The new book The Commercial Real Estate Tsunami outlines these
issues and offers up useful suggestions for getting through with minimal damage. We are
in this for the next 3-5 years and need new methodologies applied to ebb the wave of
foreclosures and bank losses ahead.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0120671220100201
http://docs.google.com/viewer?
a=v&q=cache:ScGv5bZa7CAJ:www.douglas.co.us/business/documents/DouglasCounty
EconSummary_2Q2010.pdf+condominium+markets+site:us&hl=en&pid=bl&srcid=AD
GEEShR_2Kxsv6GM48VPFTMwS0lscTXi00cao3gIpUyXyd8n_o4iELdjf3kqSpoEnP2A
eTP-RaMdfd_ZyEk1JN7_5906nzJyKZUXEbVAIvkEXzACTfFc9VSlp-
XjzBziXW45uxcJdOH&sig=AHIEtbRhXjfKfVZZqyA893HSh_Smk7CxtQ

New building permits rebounded 1.8 percent, to a 569,000-unit pace, last month after a
4.1 percent drop in July, lifted by a 9.8 percent rise in permits for multifamily units.
Analysts had expected a 560,000-unit pace in August.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/22/business/economy/22econ.html?
_r=1&scp=10&sq=multifamily%20market%20in%20us&st=cse
Residential construction in August was lifted by a 32.2 percent jump in groundbreaking
activity in the volatile multifamily segment to an annual rate of 160,000 units.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/22/business/economy/22econ.html?
_r=1&scp=10&sq=multifamily%20market%20in%20us&st=cse

http://www.nahb.org/reference_list.aspx?sectionID=238

U.S. Apartment Market

US MULTIFAMILY APARTMENT MARKET

Apartment owners in the U.S. benefit when mortgage rates rise, since this encourages
people to rent rather than buy. Single family home inventories have climbed as rising
interest rates make home ownership less attractive. The inventory of U.S. houses for sale
has soared to the highest levels since 1999 and prices have fallen for the first time in 11
years. "Late Payments, Foreclosures Hit All-Time High in First Quarter" causing
apartment rental increases. Associated Press, Thursday, June 14, 2007

"What's good for homebuilders is bad for apartments and vice versa,'' said James Corl,
head of real estate investment at New York-based Cohen & Steers Inc., where he has $16
billion under management. In the apartment market, ``demand is going to be swamping
supply for the next few years."

On a national basis, despite mixed signals, both demand and supply driven factors indicate
that the outlook for the U.S. multifamily housing market is strong. Although home
ownership rates are increasing, regulatory barriers to development are generally on the
rise, and several other factors bode well for the multifamily rental sector, including
declining vacancy rates, near-term softness in single-family home demand, rising
mortgage rates and declining home ownership affordability. The most critical component
of long-term multifamily demand in the United States is population growth. The nation’s
population is expected to increase by about three million people per year through 2020.
Assuming historical household size and rental propensities hold, this rate of growth will
require new construction of roughly 420,000 incremental multifamily units per year
across the United States.

However, if rental propensities decline as they have done over the last decade, less than
100,000 multifamily units will be needed to meet expected demand each year. In addition
to demographic growth, demand for new multifamily units will also be driven by the need
to replace existing units.

The apartment rental market – multifamily housing – is experiencing increased demand

from the slowdown in home sales. With a rising population and a growing number of
households, vacancies are tightening and rents are rising. Multifamily vacancy rates are
projected to average 5.4% in the current quarter, down from 5.9% in the fourth quarter of
last year, and then continue to decline to 5.1% by the end of 2008. Average rent is likely
to rise 3.1% for 2007 and 3.8% next year, following a 4.1% increase in 2006.

Multifamily net absorption is expected to total 234,400 units in 59 tracked metropolitan

areas in 2007, below the 229,500 last year, but should rise to 245,800 in 2008. The areas
with the lowest apartment vacancies include Northern New Jersey, Salt Lake City, San
Jose, San Diego, Nashville and Philadelphia, all with vacancy rates of 3.3% or less.
Multifamily transactions in the first 10 months of this year totaled $62.3 billion, compared
with $87.4 billion for all of 2006. The sale of buildings originally constructed as condos
are being sold to multifamily investors in markets like Washington, D.C., and South
Florida. Many markets have seen condo “for sale” signs change to “apartment for lease”
signs almost overnight.

Some condominium complexes are being converted into office buildings, and others are
becoming mixed-use projects. It took more than fifty years for the U.S. population to
grow from 100 million to 200 million in 1967, and not quite forty more years for it to
reach 300 million in October 2006. Over the past 20 years, the U.S. population has grown
slightly in excess of 1% per annum – a significant distinguishing feature of the U.S.
economy relative to other developed economies. About two thirds of this growth is due to
more births than deaths (among those already in the country), while the other third is due
to immigration. Over the next 20 years, this rate of growth in the U.S. population is
expected to continue, barring any major change in birth rates or immigration. But not all
areas of the country will grow equally. Why do some places achieve substantially higher
population growth while others lag far behind? Because high growth occurs where people
want to live and play, where firms find it efficient to produce, where the necessary
approvals can be attained to accommodate desired growth, and where “wild card” factors
align.

Projecting long-term housing demand is conceptually straightforward. There are three

primary factors that drive the need for new multifamily units in the United States:

o annual household growth,

o age specific rental propensities, and

o annual inventory destruction.

Despite declining rental propensities, the outlook for the multifamily construction market
is far from bleak, due to both increasing population and, in large part, the need to replace
the nation’s aging multifamily inventory. In fact, according to our analysis, if age cohort
rental propensities (the percentage of the population likely to rent) continue their long-
term decline, we forecast that just under 1.3 million total multifamily units will need to be
constructed in the U.S. through 2020, just 92,000 per year. That works out to be an
average annual loss of 65,000 rental households for the next fourteen years, offset by an
annual average need to replace 157,000 units that are destroyed. On the other hand, if age
cohort rental propensities remain constant at 2006 rates, we forecast about 5.9 million
total new rental units will be required (418,000 per year for the next 14 years.)

http://www.america2030.com/U.S.-Apartment-Market.html

Top player: - 2004

004 Largest U.S. Apartment Managers

Current Previous Company Headquarters

Rank Rank

1 1 Apartment Investment and

Management Company, AMO Denver
2 2 Equity Residential Chicago
3 3 American Management Services
(d.b.a. Pinnacle), AMO Seattle
4 5 Lincoln Property Company, AMO Dallas
5 4 Archstone-Smith Englewood, Colo.
6 7 United Dominion Realty Trust Richmond, Va.
7 8 Lefrak Organization Rego Park, N.Y.
8 6 Trammell Crow Residential, AMO Atlanta
9 10 Alliance Holdings Chicago
10 9 Sentinel Real Estate Corporation New York

Current Company Current Previous

Rank Units Units

1 Apartment Investment and

Management Company, AMO 239,875 309,000
2 Equity Residential 209,124 219,337
3 American Management Services
(d.b.a. Pinnacle), AMO 125,136 115,001
4 Lincoln Property Company, AMO 110,236 101,683
5 Archstone-Smith 82,644 109,990
6 United Dominion Realty Trust 76,804 72,972
7 Lefrak Organization 71,000 71,000
8 Trammell Crow Residential, AMO 70,966 74,467
9 Alliance Holdings 63,519 57,513
10 Sentinel Real Estate Corporation 62,008 63,775

http://www.allbusiness.com/real-estate-rental-leasing/real-activities-related-to/186966-
1.html
TOP REAL ESTATE PLAYERS(U.S)

Real Estate:
Top Firms
Trammell Crow
Address: 2001 Ross Ave., Suite 3500, Dallas, TX 75201.
Phone: (214) 863-3000
Fax: (214) 863-3125
HR Contact: Mary Jo Francis, Recruiting Link
Background: Trammell Crow Co. is one of the largest diversified
commercial real estate service companies in the United States.
Through its 150 offices in the United States and Canada, the
Company is organized to deliver a comprehensive range of
service offerings to clients which include leading multi-national
corporations, institutional investors and other users of real estate
services. In the area of property management, Trammell Crow
offers in-house architectural, engineering, space planning,
construction, and environmental services. The company reports
total management responsibilities of 494 million square feet of
space, spread across offices, retail, manufacturing and other
commercial buildings.
Lincoln Property
Address: 500 N. Akard, Suite 3300, Dallas, TX 75201
Phone: (214) 740-3300
Fax: (214) 740-3313
Background: Lincoln Property Company was formed in 1965 for
the purpose of building and operating high quality residential
communities in the Southwest. We have since become one of the
five largest residential and commercial firms in the nation with
properties in 200 cities. Lincoln has developed over 140 million
square feet of commercial space and its residential development
arm includes over 140,000 multi-family residential units.
JMB Realty
Address: 900 N. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60601
Phone: (214) 740-3300
Fax: (214) 740-3313
HR Contact: Gail Silver
Background: JMB Realty owns, develops and managers a
variety of large commercial real estate properties in the United
States. Included are a number of marquee properties such as
Chicago's Water Tower Place. JMB also has JMB Advisory Group
which provides real estate management and consulting to large
institutional investors in commercial property.
CB Richard Ellis
Address: 333 South Beaudry Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90071
Phone: (213) 613-3123
Fax: (213) 613-3535
HR Contact: Pam Perry
Background: CB Richard Ellis is the largest vertically integrated
commercial real estate services firm in the world. The company
offers the most comprehensive portfolio of services, including
property sales and leasing, property management, corporate
services, investment banking, investment management, capital
markets, appraisal/valuation, research and consulting. With
offices in cities around the world, CB Richard Ellis combines
global reach with localized knowledge. Whether a client just has
one property or a portfolio of multinational locations, its offerings
scale to meet individual client needs.
Cushman and Wakefield Worldwide
Address: 51 West 52nd Street, New York, NY 10019
Phone: (212) 841-7500
Fax: (212) 841-7767
HR Contact: Carolyn Sessa, Recruiting Link
Background: Wants to be the world's preferred real estate
provider. Cushman and Wakefield provides brokerage, advisory,
lease administration and property management services to
corporations and financial services firms around the world.
Headquartered in tony Mid-town Manhattan, the company has
over 130 offices in 40 countries. The company is controlled by
Mitsubishi Estate, Ltd. Founded in New York City in 1917.
Insignia Financial Group
Address: 200 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10166
Phone: (212) 984-8000
Fax: (312) 782-8040
HR Contact: Gregory Myers
Background: Insignia is a diversified real estate company with
extreme growth. Key businesses include Insignia Residential
(condominium and coop management), Insignia/ESG (a major
commercial property manager), Realty One (a key residential
broker) and Douglas Elliman (a major New York real estate
broker).
Jones Lang LaSalle
Address: 11 South LaSalle Street, Chicago, IL 60603
Phone: (312) 782-5800
Fax: (312) 782-4339
Background: The product of a recent blockbuster merger, more
than 6,000 Jones Lang LaSalle people stand ready to serve real
estate clients in one - or many - of 96 markets in 34 countries on
five continents. To stay close to local markets and remain
 attentive to client business priorities, the company is organized
into four geographical regions, each led by its own management
team. This decentralized management structure incentivizes the
company to be a leader worldwide in property management,
hotel real estate, valuation services, brokerage and advisory.
This is a dynamic company that transacts in everything from U.S.
skyscrapers to McDonald's properties in China.
Grubb & Ellis
Address: 2215 Sanders Rd., Suite. 400, Northbrook, IL 60062
Phone: 847-753-7500
Fax: 847-753-9034
HR Contact: Vince Ristucci, Recruiting Link
Background: Owned in part by investment company Warburg
Pincus (now part of Credit Suisse Asset Management), Grubb &
Ellis is one of the nation's largest publicly traded commercial real
estate services firms with approximately 4,400 professionals and
staff, Grubb & Ellis provides transaction services, management
services, financial services and strategic services to clients
worldwide. Through its offices and affiliate offices in
approximately 90 markets, Grubb & Ellis covers every major
metropolitan area in the United States. Internationally, the
Company serves the needs of multinational clients through its
offices in London and Brussels.
http://www.careers-in-finance.com/retop.htm

Lennar Corporation: LEN has realized positive growth in net new orders and contract
backlog, with the latter increasing to $655 million at May 31, 2010 from $455 million at
the end of FY 09 (Nov.). This is the company's highest level for backlog since August
2008. Backlog in some ways is a good indicator of a company's likely sales and earnings
for the next several quarters, as it is derived by subtracting current-period closings from
the sum of all existing orders that have not yet been closed. BUSINESS PROFILE
Lennar Corp., the third largest homebuilder in the U.S. (based on the Builder Magazine
2010 survey of U.S. home closings
http://www.outlook.standardandpoors.com/NASApp/NetAdvantage/FocusStockOfTheW
eek.do?&context=Company&docId=15682431
Epcon Communities: moved up to number-31 on the Builder 100 list,
a ranking of the nation's largest homebuilders nationally, in any
category,
moving up from number-35 the previous year. Founded in 1986, Dublin,
Ohio-based Epcon Communities is one of the leading
developers and franchise operators of condominium developments in the
United
States. Currently with 295 communities in 30 states, Epcon Communities'
long-term goal is to expand to all 50 states and Canada. For more
information,
please visit www.epconcommunities.com, or www.epconfranchising.com to
learn
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUS170507+16-Jun-2009+PRN20090616
U.S. Economic Outlook: September 2010
2010 2010 2010 2010 2011 2011 2011 2011 2012 2012 Annual
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 2009 2010 2011 2012
U.S. Economy
Annual Growth Rate
Real 3.7 1.6 1.9 2.4 2.4 2.3 2.8 2.6 2.9 2.7 -2.6 2.7 2.3 2.7
GDP
Nonfar 0.2 2.1 1.3 1.0 1.2 1.6 1.4 1.0 1.4 1.3 -4.3 -0.3 1.3 1.3
m
Payroll
Employ
ment
Consum 1.5 -0.7 0.4 0.6 1.8 2.0 1.7 2.3 2.9 2.1 -0.3 1.4 1.3 2.2
er
Prices
Real 1.3 4.4 -0.2 0.7 0.0 1.5 1.7 1.6 2.8 2.5 0.6 1.0 1.0 2.3
Disposa
ble
Income
Consum 52 58 51 50 51 53 54 58 61 61 45 53 54 63
er
Confide
nce
Percent
Unempl 9.7 9.7 9.9 10.0 9.9 9.7 9.6 9.5 9.4 9.3 9.3 9.8 9.7 9.2
oyment
Interest Rates, Percent
Fed 0.1 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.3 0.5 1.0 1.5 1.8 0.2 0.1 0.5 2.0
Funds
Rate
3- 0.1 0.1 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.7 0.9 1.3 1.7 1.9 0.2 0.2 0.8 2.1
Month
T-Bill
Rate
Prime 3.3 3.3 3.2 3.2 3.2 3.2 3.6 4.0 4.6 5.3 3.3 3.1 3.5 5.0
Rate
Corpora 5.3 5.0 4.4 4.5 4.4 4.4 4.6 4.8 5.0 5.3 5.3 4.8 4.6 5.3
te Aaa
Bond
Yield
10-Year 3.7 3.5 2.7 2.9 3.0 3.0 3.3 3.5 3.8 4.0 3.3 3.2 3.2 4.1
Govern
ment
Bond
30-Year 4.6 4.4 3.6 3.8 3.9 3.9 4.2 4.4 4.6 4.8 4.1 4.1 4.1 4.9
Govern
ment
Bond
Mortgage Rates, percent
30-Year 5.0 4.9 4.4 4.6 4.8 4.9 5.1 5.4 5.6 5.8 5.1 4.7 5.1 5.9
Fixed
Rate
1-Year 4.3 4.0 3.6 3.6 3.8 4.0 4.1 4.4 4.8 5.0 4.7 3.9 4.1 5.0
Adjusta
ble
Housing Indicators
Thousands
Existing 5,140 5,570 4,087 4,943 5,125 5,414 5,472 5,660 5,535 5,565 5,156 4,909 5436 5,494
Home
Sales*
New 360 337 299 340 383 434 468 493 548 598 376 332 449 579
Single-
Family
Sales
Housin 617 601 610 672 729 787 830 857 905 976 554 625 801 994
g Starts
Single- 524 491 478 516 564 620 669 705 762 831 442 502 639 843
Family
Units
Multifa 93 110 131 157 165 167 161 153 144 146 112 123 162 151
mily
Units
Residen 331 351 344 349 361 378 394 408 422 439 359 344 386 448
tial
Constru
ction**
Percent Change -- Year Ago
Existing 11.5 16.5 -22.6 -17.2 -0.3 -2.8 33.9 14.5 8.0 2.8 4.9 -4.8 10.7 1.1
Home
Sales
New 2.0 -8.4 -25.5 -8.8 6.4 28.8 56.7 44.9 43.1 37.8 -22.6 -11.8 35.3 29.0
Single-
Family
Sales
Housin 16.5 12.0 4.0 19.0 18.1 30.9 36.2 27.5 24.2 24.1 -38.7 12.8 28.1 24.1
g Starts
Single- 45.0 16.2 -3.6 5.6 7.5 26.3 39.9 36.6 35.1 34.0 -28.9 13.6 27.3 31.9
Family
Units
Multifa -44.8 -3.2 46.3 105.2 78.4 51.1 22.9 -2.4 -13.1 -12.7 -60.3 9.6 31.6 -6.7
mily
Units
Residen -6.2 5.2 0.5 2.0 9.3 7.6 14.7 17.1 16.7 16.3 -20.5 -4.3 12.2 16.1
tial
Constru
ction
Median Home Prices
Thousands of Dollars
Existing 166.4 176.6 176.0 169.6 166.7 178.0 177.9 171.8 169.7 181.6 172.5 172.7 174.2 177.8
Home
Prices
New 221.6 217.7 204.9 216.6 222.7 223.1 210.5 224.0 231.6 232.5 215.9 214.6 219.7 231.0
Home
Prices
Percent Change -- Year Ago
Existing -0.7 1.3 -1.2 -0.7 0.2 0.8 1.1 1.3 1.8 2.0 -12.9 0.1 0.9 2.1
Home
Prices
New 6.6 -0.5 -3.6 -1.0 0.5 2.5 2.7 3.4 4.0 4.2 -7.0 -0.6 2.4 5.1
Home
Prices
Housin 175 165 183 183 178 162 155 151 148 133 172 178 166 138
g
Afforda
bility
Index
Quarterly figures are seasonally adjusted annual rates.
* Existing home sales of single-family homes and condo/coops; ** billion dollars