News from across the Pond

Are the winds of change for good blowing for parts of the commercial property sector in the USA?  It was reported at the weekend that during the last quarter of 2011the US banking fraternity increased their lendings for commercial real estate projects, the first increase in volume in 2 years.

This is seen as a clear signal that the US banking sector is starting to realise its return to healthy trading, in part supported by Government actions following the 2008/9 crisis in allowing the extension of loan maturities, thus allowing banks time to bolster their own finances and commercial real estate values to rise.

Banks leading the return to lending include Wells Fargo & Co, Bank of America Corp, U.S. Bankcorp and JPMorgan Chase & Co.  Default rates are at the lowest for three years, including multi-family units and this, combined with an slight increase in GDP to 3% is giving a feeling of optimism in some quarters; there is great hope abroad that this heralds a more positive outlook. 

Meanwhile, in the UK……..