Mid-Year Report Sees Real Estate as Hot Investment

DENVER-Real estate remains a preferred investment for institutions, according to a mid-year report and projection by investment broker Patrick T. Devereaux. Devereaux, an associate director at Cushman & Wakefield Colorado Inc., notes that in the first half of the year, 87 properties in the Denver area have been purchased that sold for $1 million or more.

That breaks down to 27 retail projects, 16 industrial projects, and 44 offices, he says.On an annualized basis that comes to $1.1 billion in sales, compared with $850 million last year, Devereaux says. Last year at this time, there had been 103 sales, he notes.

“The transaction dollar volume is increasing, but the number of transactions is decreasing,” Devereaux tells GlobeSt.com.He adds that institutional investors are hungry for credit single-tenant office buildings, and grocery anchored retail. Indeed, there’s an oversupply of capital for real estate in these categories.

While investors have been focusing on capital preservations, increasingly investors are looking at more high-risk buildings, if they can purchase them right, he notes. “Value-added office products are starting to come to the market,” he says.

That may be truer in Denver than in most markets, he adds.”Investors think we are near the bottom of the cycle and Denver will rebound faster than other cities,” Devereaux tells GlobeSt.com.