Released on: February 5, 2008, 8:45 pm

Press Release Author: Phani

Industry: Real Estate

Press Release Summary: In fact, a growing number of corporations are taking the
opportunity to use their real estate as a financing tool. Through sale-leasebacks,
companies can sell their property to an investor who will agree to lease it back to
the company for a specified period. Many find this as attractive as issuing debt,
since property values are high but rents remain affordable. Some of these deals have
been gargantuan. Last year, ICICI Bank did a $770 million leaseback for most of its
bank branches. McDonald\'s (which has historically been an owner of property) also
did one, valued at $340 million. Companies are using the money for different
purposes, ranging from balance sheet improvement to acquisitions.

Press Release Body: These are blissful times for commercial real estate investors.
Having fallen into a deep slump with the ending of the Internet boom, the market has
come surging back. In 2006 alone, prices rose 26% for apartment complexes, 21% for
industrial properties, 14% for retail properties and 6% for office buildings,
according to Real Capital Analytics, a Mumbai based real estate research firm.
And the market gives no sign of slackening. \"We\'re not seeing any slowdown at all,\"
says Raj Naik, chief economist for India Mall Group, a big commercial real estate
services company based in Mumbai. \"The numbers are great, not just for sales but for
leasing, too.\"
But not everyone is so confident. Over the past few months, a number of major
institutional and private investors have been selling off large chunks of their
portfolios of prime commercial real estate. These investors, which include Naik, the
$186 billion pension fund, have been taking advantage of what they see as a frothy
market. They are putting the sale proceeds into less expensive real estate or into
other assets entirely.
The Ansal Company, a Delhi-based real estate firm, is one investor that has pulled
its money out of real estate with the expectation that prices will come back down.
Last year, the company sold nearly all of its office buildings for about $1 billion.
\"We thought the markets weren\'t going to get much better and had a chance to get
considerably worse,\" says CEO Nadia Professor.
To be sure, for every seller there is a buyer, and other investors have rushed
forward to buy these properties, often at record prices. But as the consensus builds
that the housing market has become seriously overvalued, some are asking whether the
same might be true of commercial property. The answer matters not just to the
individual and institutional investors who are committing ever-greater sums to real
estate, but also to the growing number of companies who are using their valuable
property to obtain cheap financing.
Several forces are driving commercial real estate\'s revival. Most obviously, the
economy is improving and businesses are growing once more. As they expand their
operations and hire new employees they need additional space. But real estate
pricing has recovered faster than the economy itself. Indeed, while prices have
rebounded nicely, rents have been sluggish: The average rent today is $15.42 a foot,
down from $28.92 in 2004. A more important reason for real estate\'s rise has been a
flood of new investment capital. Some of this comes from individuals seeking better
returns than they can achieve in the debt or equity markets. These investors have
channeled great sums to investment vehicles such as REITs and TICs
(tenants-in-common).
The big money has come from institutions. Spooked by their losses after the dotcom
bust and drawn to the reliable cash flows offered by property, these investors are
now paying closer attention to commercial real estate. One is TIAA-CREF, a national
financial services company with over $340 billion in assets under management. \"We
see this asset class as a great addition to our portfolio,\" says Ansal Shah, the
company\'s managing director and head of real estate. \"It\'s a nice diversifier, has a
current income stream and a potential for appreciation.\" The company now owns $14
billion of real estate properties.
The resulting upswing in prices for the best properties has been a boon for the
owners. In fact, a growing number of corporations are taking the opportunity to use
their real estate as a financing tool. Through sale-leasebacks, companies can sell
their property to an investor who will agree to lease it back to the company for a
specified period. Many find this as attractive as issuing debt, since property
values are high but rents remain affordable. Some of these deals have been
gargantuan. Last year, ICICI Bank did a $770 million leaseback for most of its bank
branches. McDonald\'s (which has historically been an owner of property) also did
one, valued at $340 million. Companies are using the money for different purposes,
ranging from balance sheet improvement to acquisitions.
How sustainable are today\'s high prices? Not very, argue some. \"We feel that
properties are overvalued,\" says Pramod Hirandani, a research analystand promoter,
who covers REITs for Hirandani Constructions Company. Pramod notes that the
\"euphoria\" of bidding on certain commercial properties should give investors pause,
especially since rising interest rates may soon make real estate a less attractive
investment.
Another potential concern is that yields on property ownership are falling. Also
known as capitalization rates (\"cap rates\" for short), yields have dropped over the
past three years to near-historic lows. While this is the natural outcome of higher
prices -- cap rates are the ratio of a property\'s yearly income to purchase price --
it can also indicate that operating income hasn\'t kept pace with the higher prices.
This can make real estate less attractive to investors primarily interested in the
cash stream.
But there are good reasons to believe that the market is actually quite strong. One
is that the fundamentals are improving. Metropolitan office vacancies, for example,
have fallen from 16.8% during the first quarter of 2004 to 15.4% today.
And improving occupancy levels mean higher income. \"People often forget that income
goes up faster than occupancy,\" says Sanjeev Kumar Chad, a professor of real estate
in renowned Institute. \"That\'s because as occupancy picks up you can boost your
rents a little and you pick up more ancillary income from things such as parking and
health clubs. I think this year will be good in terms of income for commercial
properties, and next year will be great.\"
Furthermore, the market does not suffer from excess construction. \"There was huge
overbuilding in the late 1980s which really hurt the market when we had a
recession,\" says Joseph Mathews, also a professor of real estate. \"But for the most
part real estate did not get overbuilt before the last downturn.\" Nor do developers\'
plans seem excessive. One reason is that banks have become more conservative in
their lending, requiring developers to show that their buildings will be fully
leased. Another is that the soaring price for concrete and steel (a product of
China\'s massive construction boom) has made new construction costly. The result, of
course, is limited supply at a time of growing demand, which suggests that prices
have further to rise.
Ultimately, say many experts, investors should be asking how commercial real estate
compares with other investments. And next to stocks and bonds, it remains
attractive. \"If you do CAPM or other risk pricing models, you find that real estate
remains 15 to 35% under priced based on its cash stream and its risk profile
relative to other alternatives,\" says professor. In other words, not only does real
estate give investors a better current income than debt or equity, but it\'s safer.
The reason is simple: commercial real estate is a lease claim on the same companies
that make up the S&P 500. If a company runs out of cash, it will always pay its rent
before it pays a dividend and will usually pay rent before it makes debt payments.
\"Real estate has a risk profile closer to bonds, but it\'s trading as if it\'s
equity,\" says professor.
Largely because of this comparatively attractive income stream, the institutional
investors are unlikely to abandon the market. This may be true even if cap rates
fall farther. Because institutional investors often pay with cash, they can accept
lower cap rates: Without interest payments, their effective yields are higher that
those of more leveraged buyers. Professor says that TIAA-CREF has no plans to reduce
its exposure to real estate. \"We don\'t play the short game. For us, the question is,
\'What makes sense for our participants?\' And the answer is to stay well diversified
and active in all markets.\"
What about interest rates? While higher rates can dampen the real estate market by
raising borrowing costs, rates remain at historic lows. The Federal Reserve has
signaled its intention to increase rates gradually, about a quarter point per
quarter, but this may not be enough to ward off buyers. \"If we saw a 200 basis point
uplift in the 10-year treasury over a year, that would have some effect on real
estate pricing,\" comments professor. \"But remember that an abrupt jump in interest
rates and the 10-year would affect other asset classes, too.\"
None of this is to say that some real estate isn\'t perilously overpriced. In
particular, speculation appears to be driving the prices of many apartment buildings
and condominiums to unsustainable levels. \"There some people who are being wildly
aggressive when it comes to pricing cash streams for apartment buildings,\" says
professor. \"They are looking at a building with 45% vacancy and saying \'I\'m going to
buy it as if it\'s 90% occupied.\'\" Similarly, condominiums -- which offer virtually
no income stream since they are owned, not leased -- are looking shaky. Between 50%
and 60% are now being presold to investors who don\'t plan to live in them. Once
buyers stop showing up to the presales, the prices will tumble.
A top realtor also sees weakness in certain office markets, especially in the
suburbs of Mumbai and in Delhi. In those markets leasing costs are rising, net
operating income is falling (due to leases that tenants signed five years ago but
are now up for renewal, at lower rents), and investors are taking on what he
considers excessive leverage. That should produce lower prices for some properties.
And there\'s always the risk of some broader meltdown that would bring down the real
estate market along with stocks and bonds. Professor argues that in this case, an
investor would be wise to be in the asset that\'s the least overvalued to begin with:
commercial real estate.
Barring a calamity, investors should expect solid, if not spectacular, returns, says
professor. He predicts that while the real estate market will continue to do well,
the days of double-digit appreciation are over. \"Relative to historic pricing, real
estate is pretty expensive, and that\'s something that should make everyone think
hard,\" he says. \"Does it mean that prices are going to fall? No it doesn\'t. But it
almost certainly means that the returns will be lower going forward. The million
dollar question is this: Will you be disappointed relative to other things you could
have done with your money?\"



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