Upticks in consumer spending and hints at economic improvement are fueling some long-awaited positive momentum in the retail sector. Despite the mild industry buzz, the latest data reports offer the view many property owners see when they look around their markets: Vacancy for strip centers rose to 11.0 percent nationwide in 2Q11 — just 10 basis points below the two-decade high of 11.1 percent vacancy in 1990, according to Reis.

Despite the retail market’s slow trek toward recovery, Carmen R. Austin, CCIM, associate broker at Saurage Rotenberg Commercial Real Estate in Baton Rouge, La., sees a lot of opportunity in this struggling sector.

Saurage Rotenberg Commercial Real Estate has recognized one of its associate brokers who recently completed the Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM) Jay W. Levine Leadership Academy.

Developers and investors are starting to make big bets on industrial real estate, following signs that consumers may be starting to spend again. Sales of such properties have jumped nearly threefold from last year…

Commercial real estate loan is a general term used to describe types of credit facilities. Commercial real estate loans generally include…

In the spring, things were going so well, we might have thought we could get $50 billion to $55 billion.

While commercial real estate continues to burden the nation’s 7,522 banks and thrifts that reported results to the FDIC as of June 30, the severity of the CRE-related impairment is gradually decreasing and lending is on the increase.

Every commercial real estate entity in south Louisiana— as well as every part of the nation—would like to make the statement that the local economy is on fire and we have nothing but blue skies ahead—unfortunately we must deal with reality.

August was a hot month for home sales in the Capital Region, with a 43% increase in sales during the month compared to 2010. But according to figures from the Greater Baton Rouge Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service, year-to-date sales through August were still off by 3.3% from a year ago.

The effects from late summer’s national and international economic challenges have cast a huge shadow over the commercial real estate market recovery.