GlobeSt.com QUICK SURVEY: Buyers Get Going While Assets are Value-Priced

NEW YORK CITY-The implication is clear: What’s good for the goose is not necessarily good for the gander. Our latest Quick Survey reveals what we all expected–this day of low interest rates and devalued properties has created a buyer’s market. This is the opinion of 71% of our respondents. Only 29% said it was a seller’s market.

“Buy low, sell high still holds true,” observes one survey participant. “The nervous Nelly has no place in the investment world. Yet significant numbers of them always seem to reside, making the market work in favor of the predatory investor.” Another correspondent agrees: “We have a seller’s market because there are lower interest rates, which initially entice the public to buy domestically.”

What are the specific factors that shape this buyer’s market? Number one was supply/demand fundamentals (35%), followed by the difference between bid/ask prices and the availability of investment choices (both garnering 15% of the vote). Lower interest rates got 14% of the participants’ nod while the relatively vague “recessionary trends” was cited by 13% of respondents.

Predatory or not, where is the money going? According to 38% of our surveyed experts, multifamily is the choice for investors with money to burn. The office sector came in second with 23% of the vote with industrial, shopping centers and lodging closing out our prime market areas with 13%, 9% and 6% respectively. Why multifamily? According to one writer, it seems to have the preponderance of “well-located, well-conceived projects.” For those, he says, “there is always an opportunity.”

But opportunities cost money. Where’s the capital coming from? Private equity partners are the big spenders in these devalued times, according to 20% of our participants. But pension funds, domestic investors and sales proceeds all came in a tight second–at 19%–as prime capital sources. Also making the cut were equity joint ventures (17%); the public market (14%); and internal capital (12%).

How long will it continue to be a buyer’s market? Quite a while, as some of our correspondents suggest. As one writer told us: “In addition to capital markets and real estate performance, a company’s internal strategy and balance sheet requirements will make the fourth quarter a buyer’s market, since many real estate companies have their backs against the wall.”

And then there was the dire prediction of yet one more respondent: “Sellers are all in denial. Sale prices will be lower two years from now than they are now.”