WASHINGTON, April 17, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- This month's CoStar Commercial Repeat Sale Indices (CCRSI) provide the market's first look at February 2013 commercial real estate pricing. Based on 722 repeat sales in February 2013 and more than 100,000 repeat sales since 1996, the CCRSI offers the broadest measure of commercial real estate repeat sales activity.
February 2013 CCRSI National Results Highlights
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PRICING RECOVERY CONTINUES DESPITE SEASONAL VOLATILITY: The two broadest measures of aggregate pricing for commercial properties within the CCRSI—the value-weighted U.S. Composite Index and the equal-weighted U.S. Composite Index—dipped by 0.7% and 1.4%, respectively, in the month of February 2013, reflecting a continuation of a seasonal pattern first observed in January, in which commercial real estate prices gave back some of the pricing gains from the surge in sales activity at the close of 2012. Despite the recent seasonal dip in activity, commercial real estate prices are still up significantly from year ago levels. The equal-weighted index increased 6.0% since February 2012, while value-weighted index expanded by 5.1% during the same period.
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INVESTMENT GRADE SEGMENT TURNED IN STRONGEST PERFORMANCE: Within the equal-weighted version of the U.S. Composite Index, which weights each repeat-sale equally and therefore reflects the influence of smaller transactions, the Investment Grade segment was the first to shake off the seasonal slump of the previous months and increased 1.9% in February 2013. Following a spike in the investment grade pricing last year, the index gave back some of those earlier gains. However, with the February 2013 pricing gains, the Investment Grade segment has now recovered by 17.9% since prices reached a trough in October 2009. Pricing in the General Commercial segment has taken longer to recover, but it is now up nearly 6% from its recent nadir in the first quarter of 2011 as real estate investment activity has increasingly fanned out into more secondary markets and property types.
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ABSORPTION POSTS SOLID GAINS IN THE FIRST QUARTER: The relative performance of the General Commercial and Investment Grade indices is tied to market fundamentals. Net absorption of available space for the three major property types – office, retail, and industrial – has been positive over the past three years. However, for the majority of that period, absorption has been stronger among properties in the Investment Grade segment as reflected by the faster pricing growth in this index since 2009. More recently though, the General Commercial segment has posted more robust gains in absorption as well, indicating a broader and more sustained commercial real estate recovery.
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TRANSACTION VOLUME RETURNS TO MORE TYPICAL LEVELS: Following an impressive end-year spike in December 2012 when repeat sale transaction volume reached a new record high, transaction volume of $2.9 billion for the month of February 2013 was in line with first quarter average monthly totals over the previous two years.
- DISTRESS SALES DECLINE WITH IMPROVING FUNDAMENTALS: The percentage of commercial property selling at distressed prices dropped to 15.9% in February 2013 from over 18% for the previous month.
Monthly CCRSI Results, Data through February 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 | -0.7% | -0.3% | 5.1% | 36.7%1 |
| Equal-Weighted U.S. Composite Index | -1.4% | -3.1% | 6.0% | 7.1%2 |
| U.S. Investment Grade Index | 1.9% | 0.6% | 8.6% | 17.9%3 |
| U.S. General Commercial Index | -1.8% | -3.7% | 5.7% | 6.0%4 |
| 1 Trough Date: January, 2010 2 Trough Date: March, 2011 3 Trough Date: October, 2009 4 Trough Date: March, 2011 | ||||
Monthly Fundamentals, Data through March of 2013
| Net Absorption (in millions of square feet) | |||||
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013Q1 | |||
| Aggregate | 292.7 | 315.0 | 87.8 | ||
| Investment Grade | 207.1 | 226.5 | 56.9 | ||
| General Commercial | 85.6 | 88.6 | 30.9 | ||
| Note: "Net Absorption" is the change in occupied space, calculated based on three types of properties: office, retail, and industrial. | |||||
Several charts accompanying this release are available at http://media.globenewswire.com/cache/9473/file/19158.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/19159.pdf
CONTACT:
For more information about the CCRSI Indices, including a detailed methodology, fact sheet, legal notices and disclaimer, and an archive of previous releases, 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 6.7 million registered members. CoStar operates websites that have over 10 million unique monthly visitors in aggregate. Headquartered in Washington, DC, CoStar maintains offices throughout the U.S. and in Europe, 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 plans, objectives, expectations, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. These statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of management of CoStar 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; the risk that investor demand and commercial real estate pricing levels will not continue at the levels or with the trends indicated in this release; the risk that pricing momentum will not shift as expected; and the possibility that a sustained commercial real estate recovery will not be realized as expected. 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 Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012, under the heading "Risk Factors." All forward-looking statements are based on information available to CoStar on the date hereof, and CoStar does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
