Economy Watch: Apartment Rents Stabilize in Summer September 6, 2017 | D.C. Stribling | Commercial Property Executive   After falling through the first quarter, the U.S. national median rent has stabilized in recent months, climbing in September to its highest point of 2017: $1,018, though that’s up only a bit from January, when the median…

KBS REIT II to sell Los Angeles office tower for $280M September 14, 2017 | Luke Schmidt | Blue Vault On September 8, 2017, KBS Real Estate Investment Trust II, Inc. entered into a purchase and sale agreement for the sale of Union Bank Plaza to RC Acquisitions, LLC ,an affiliate of Pacific Reach Properties.…

Cashing Out: KBS Looking to Liquidate Post-Recession Apartment REIT September 14, 2017 | Mark Heschmeyer | CoStar.com KBS Legacy Partners Apartment REIT has decided it’s time to cash out and sell the remaining multifamily properties it purchased through early 2014. The California-based non-traded REIT has already cut separate agreements to sell four of them and…

NTR Sales Up 17% in August While BDC Sales Increase 36% September 14, 2017 | Luke Schmidt | Blue Vault Sales by nontraded REITs increased 17% in August compared to July. August sales of $288.9 million reported to Blue Vault by nontraded REIT sponsors grew from $246.9 million in July. Despite this increase, August sales…

Malls Face ‘A Necessary Evolution’ September 8, 2017 | Paul Bubny | GlobeSt.com  “Converting malls’ tenant bases to include more of the categories that in-person shoppers now favor won’t be an easy or quick fix,” Cordero says. The retailer categories occupying the most space in US shopping malls? Department stores and apparel, accessory and shoe…

Versus Capital Launches Another Interval Fund August 27, 2017 | Interval Fund Tracker   The Versus Capital’s new real assets interval fund was declared effective by the SEC on August 17, 2017. Versus Capital Real Assets Fund, LLC is seeking to raise $450 million in a continuous offering. Minimum initial investment is $10 million(RIAs can aggregate accounts…

Florida-based broker-dealers flee Irma, setting up operations out-of-state September 11, 2017 | Bruce Kelly | Investment News As Hurricane Irma lashed the sunshine state from its tip to its top over the weekend, business continuity plans for independent broker-dealers based in Florida kicked in, keeping the firms open for business for thousands of financial advisers.…

Survey: Physical stores still dominate U.S. grocery September 11, 2017 | Marianne Wilson | Chain Store Age Discount stores and traditional supermarkets are U.S. shoppers' most popular choices when it comes to buying food. At least for the time being.   Nearly all — 99% — of adults buy some or all of their groceries…

Institutional Investors Will Continue to Target Real Estate, Even as Pricing Concerns Rise September 8, 2017 | Elaine Misonzhnik | National Real Estate Investor Real estate continues to be viewed as an attractive alternative asset class by global institutional investors, and they plan to funnel more money into the sector over the next 12 months, according to a…