Jody Thornton, the firm's executive managing director, tells GlobeSt.com that declining interest rates is the primary reason for the spike in volume and dollar count. In a trickledown effect, institutional investors and pension funds trying to balance their portfolios have had a significant impact, says Thornton. "They are re-examining their asset allocations and leveraging some of their real estate assets ... and we are seeing the benefit of some of that," he explains. It's being done in a conservative approach, he says, but nonetheless being done "to rebalance their portfolios while the stock market is low."

As of the end of April, Holliday Fenoglio Fowler had completed 310 transactions for a record-breaking quarter of $2.9 billion. In comparison, there were 252 deals for an aggregate $2.2 billion completed during the same time period in 2000. Thornton is optimistic that year-end tallies could exceed 1999's all-time high of $12.2 billion, but won't go out on the line to make the call this early in the game."We're going to do the best we can," he says.

Declining interest rates have created financing and refinancing opportunities that didn't exist before. He advises would-be borrowers to strike while the iron is hot and not wait until money tightens up toward the end of the year. "If you got something you need to finance, you had better do it yesterday," he says.

Thornton considers real estate market to be stable nationwide, with no particular hotspot surfacing from the increased volume. And, he adds, lending transactions are still encompassing all product type and no particular front-runner for lenders' dollars.

The insight into the business surge comes within a month of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler copping the top spot for the third consecutive year as a capital markets intermediary for the retail sector. Shopping Center World's has bestowed the lead spot on the Dallas-based firm, which specializes in senior and mezzanine debt, mezzanine equity, joint ventures and investment sales. Last year, Holliday Fenoglio Fowler's 18 offices had arranged more than $1.8 billion in debt, structured finance and investment sales for retail borrowers. The firm's overall 2000 tally hit $11 billion in about 700 commercial real estate transactions, which equates to three deals per business day.