WASHINGTON, June 12, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- This month's CoStar Commercial Repeat Sale Indices (CCRSI) provide the market's first look at April 2013 commercial real estate pricing. Based on 1,045 repeat sales in April 2013 and more than 125,000 repeat sales since 1996, the CCRSI offers the broadest measure of commercial real estate repeat sales activity.
April 2013 CCRSI National Results Highlights
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COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE PRICE RECOVERY REGAINED MOMENTUM IN APRIL: As the effects of the first quarter seasonal slowdown in investment activity subsided, commercial real estate prices advanced across the board in April 2013. The two broadest measures of aggregate pricing for commercial properties within the CCRSI—the equal-weighted U.S. Composite Index and the value-weighted U.S. Composite Index—each posted solid monthly gains in April of 1.9% and 1.1%, respectively, which reflects improvement in market fundamentals across the major CRE property types. The two components of the equal-weighted U.S. Composite Index (the Investment Grade and General Commercial indices) also made substantial gains in April 2013, signifying an extension of the recovery in commercial property pricing to more secondary property types and markets.
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INVESTMENT GRADE SEGMENT POSTS STRONG MONTHLY GAIN: Within the equal-weighted index, the Investment Grade segment of the market surged ahead by 4.1% in April 2013, more than offsetting the losses from the first quarter of 2013, and closing the month 1% above pricing levels for this segment in December 2012. The office, retail and warehouse sectors drove the strongest gains in the Investment Grade segment, indicating the price recovery has expanded beyond the multifamily sector. Prices for multifamily property, which were the first to rise coming out of the downturn, have stagnated recently as rising construction and near-peak pricing in primary markets have taken a toll on overall pricing gains. The General Commercial Index also posted positive gains in April 2013, albeit less pronounced than its Investment Grade counterpart.
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LIQUIDITY INDICATORS ALSO IMPROVING: Transaction volume of repeat sales increased 25% from the average over the first three months of 2013 to $5.1 billion in April 2013. Meanwhile, the average time on market for commercial properties listed for sale fell 5.1% in April 2013 from its peak one year ago, and the gap between initial asking and final sales price has narrowed by almost 2.2% from year-ago levels. Also, the fewer number of properties withdrawn from the market by discouraged sellers is another indication of improving investor sentiment. The number of properties withdrawn from the market in April 2013 declined 5.8% from the prior year. The improvement indicates a virtuous cycle necessary for sustained recovery. As the pricing recovery encourages lending and capital inflows, a more liquid and efficient market is expected to support further advances in pricing.
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DISTRESS SALES FALL TO LOWEST LEVEL SINCE 2008: The percentage of commercial property selling at distressed prices tumbled to 13.2% in April 2013, 64% lower than the peak level observed in March 2011. This reduction in distressed deal volume has supported higher, more consistent pricing and enhanced market liquidity by giving buyers greater confidence to do deals.
- Monthly CCRSI Results, Data through April of 2013
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1 Month Earlier |
1 Quarter Earlier |
1 Year Earlier |
Trough to Current |
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| Value-Weighted U.S. Composite Index | 1.1% | 1.8% | 10.8% | 40.9%1 |
| Equal-Weighted U.S. Composite Index | 1.9% | -0.2% | 6.3% | 8.0%2 |
| U.S. Investment Grade Index | 4.1% | 3.4% | 8.5% | 19.7%3 |
| U.S. General Commercial Index | 1.7% | -0.8% | 5.8% | 6.9%4 |
| 1 Trough Date: January, 2010 2 Trough Date: March, 2011 3 Trough Date: October, 2009 4 Trough Date: March, 2011 | ||||
| Monthly Liquidity Indicators, Data through April of 2013 1 | ||||||||
| Current | 1 Month Earlier |
1 Quarter Earlier |
1 Year Earlier |
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| Days on Market | 415 | 408 | 428 | 432 | ||||
| Sale Price-to-Asking Price Ratio | 87.4% | 87.1% | 86.4% | 85.3% | ||||
| Withdrawal Rate | 41.1% | 41.6% | 43.2% | 46.9% | ||||
| 1 Average days on market and sale price-to-asking price ratio are both calculated based on listings that are closed and confirmed by the CoStar research team. Withdrawal rate is the ratio of listings that are withdrawn from the market by the seller relative to all listings for a given month. | ||||||||
A chart accompanying this release is available at http://media.globenewswire.com/cache/9473/file/20255.pdf
About the CoStar Commercial Repeat-Sale Indices
The CoStar Commercial Repeat-Sale Indices (CCRSI) are the most comprehensive and accurate measures of commercial real estate prices in the United States. In addition to the national Composite Index (presented in both equal-weighted and value-weighted versions), national Investment Grade Index and national General Commercial Index, which we report monthly, we report quarterly on 30 sub-indices in the CoStar index family. The sub-indices include breakdowns by property sector (office, industrial, retail, multifamily, hospitality and land), by region of the country (Northeast, South, Midwest, West), by transaction size and quality (general commercial, investment grade), and by market size (composite index of the prime market areas in the country).
The CoStar indices are constructed using a repeat sales methodology, widely considered the most accurate measure of price changes for real estate. This methodology measures the movement in the prices of commercial properties by collecting data on actual transaction prices. When a property is sold more than one time, a sales pair is created. The prices from the first and second sales are then used to calculate price movement for the property. The aggregated price changes from all of the sales pairs are used to create a price index.
More charts accompanying this release are available at http://media.globenewswire.com/cache/9473/file/20256.pdf
CONTACT:
For more information about CCRSI Indices, including our legal notices and disclaimer, please visit http://www.costar.com/ccrsi.
ABOUT COSTAR GROUP, INC.
CoStar Group (Nasdaq:CSGP) is commercial real estate's leading provider of information, analytics and marketing services. Founded in 1987, CoStar conducts expansive, ongoing research to produce and maintain the largest and most comprehensive database of commercial real estate information. Our suite of online services enables clients to analyze, interpret and gain unmatched insight on commercial property values, market conditions and current availabilities. Through LoopNet, the Company operates the most heavily trafficked commercial real estate marketplace online with more than 7 million registered members. CoStar operates websites that have approximately 10 million unique monthly visitors in aggregate. Headquartered in Washington, DC, CoStar maintains offices throughout the U.S. and in Europe with a staff of approximately 2,000 worldwide, including the industry's largest professional research organization. For more information, visit http://www.costar.com.
This news release includes "forward-looking statements" including, without limitation, statements regarding CoStar's expectations, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. These statements are based upon current beliefs and are subject to many risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from these statements. The following factors, among others, could cause or contribute to such differences: the risk that the trends represented or implied by the indices will not continue or produce the results suggested by such trends, including without limitation a sustained recovery; the risk that investor sentiment and demand and commercial real estate pricing levels will not continue at the levels or with the trends indicated in this release; and the possibility that the pricing recovery does not continue to encourage lending and capital inflows or that a more liquid and efficient market will not support further advances in pricing. More information about potential factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, those stated in CoStar's filings from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including CoStar's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012, and CoStar's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2013, under the heading "Risk Factors" in each of these filings. All forward-looking statements are based on information available to CoStar on the date hereof, and CoStar assumes no obligation to update such statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
