Total Commercial Real Estate Debt - $3.5 Trillion - Harvey Green

CNBC's program, Squawk on the Street, recently discussed the CMBS market and the concerns which exist going forward with these investments. Total commercial outstanding debt in the U.S. is estimated at $3.5 trillion, and concerns are mounting as roughly $400 billion in debt comes due this year. Harvey Green, CEO of Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services, shares his insight.

Student Housing Waiting Game Coming to an End

As Apartment Finance Today's Les Shaver reported in May, the student housing "waiting game" is rapidly coming to an end. Where the pre-leasing numbers for the 2009-2010 school year effectively land will certainly have a significant effect on values.

Les points out in the article that:

1. It's more than demographics


2. Management matters


3. Start early

Remember that The Jackman Group is always available to benchmark your pre-leasing activity in a specific market and against the industry as a whole.

Student Housing Bulletin - 4th Edition Released

The Jackman Group just released the latest version of the Student Housing Bulletin. You may download a copy here.

The bulletin includes valuable data such as:

• On-Campus & Off-Campus Student Housing Construction Trends
• State Budget Statistics
• Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac Student Housing Lending Requirements
• Student Housing Properties on the Market
• 2009 Year-to-Date Statistics (Price per Unit/Bed, Cap Rates, Occupancies, etc)

Chronicle - As Fiscal Year Ends, Big Questions Loom for Colleges' Financial Futures

Will the stock market close on a high note tomorrow, the last day of the fiscal year for most colleges? Will that last big gift come in before the books close?

While the end-of-fiscal-year value of a college's net assets is just one indicator of the institution's overall health, it's an important one. If the value falls too low relative to debt, bondholders could find the institution in default on covenants and demand repayment. [Read More]

Both Standard & Poor's and Moody's Investors Service have noted the deterioration of college finances over the past several months and say they expect the difficult financial conditions to continue through 2012. [Read More]

As the economy worsened over the past year, more than 40 states made midyear cuts totaling nearly $60-billion, according to figures from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.[Read More]

CPM - 2009 College Housing Report

College Planning & Management Magazine recently released their 2009 College Housing Report.

From the Report:
"A funny thing appears to have happened on the way to the development of college residence halls this year: The cost has fallen. While the median residence hall reported on a year ago cost almost $74,000 per student, an equal number of halls surveyed this year cost $69,135 per student. This interrupts a 10-year trend that had almost tripled the median cost per student from just under $25,000 in 2000." [Read More]

Colleges Should Start Planning Now for Net Price Calculators

College officials need to begin planning now to comply with a new federal requirement that they post on their Web sites within roughly two years the net price to attend their institutions, panelists said at a meeting of institutional researchers here this week. 'This is going to end up being more complex as you get into it than people realize,' Mary M. Sapp, assistant vice president for planning and institutional research at the University of Miami, told members of the Association for Institutional Research. Congress mandated the new feature last year to give prospective students a clear idea of the actual cost to attend each institution. The net figure will be derived from total cost - tuition, fees, room, board, and other expenses - minus average aid from all sources of grants (but not loans). [Read More (Subscription Required)]

Think Ahead LLC, a developer of college financial planning software, had developed a White Paper on the Net Price Calculators, available here.

Chronicle - Giving to Colleges Declines Nearly 6 Percent

The Chronicle of Higher Education recently reported that giving to colleges and other charities declined by nearly 6 percent, the steepest decline in the history of the survey which began in 1956. Below are some highlights, please visit the website for more details.

• Individuals donated $229.3-billion last year, a decrease of 6.3 percent. Giving through bequests also dropped: $22.7-billion was contributed through people’s wills, a 6.4-percent decline. Altogether, gifts from individuals, including bequests, accounted for 82 percent of all charitable giving in 2008.


• Corporate donations totaled $14.5-billion in 2008, an 8-percent decrease, accounting for 5 percent of all giving.


• Foundation grants decreased only slightly, 0.8 percent. They totaled $41.2-billion. Grants from private, community, and operating foundations made up 13 percent of the total contributed to charity last year.

CBPP - State Budget Troubles Worsen

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities released a report which discussed the fiscal stress currently being experienced by state governments. Below are some highlights, you can get the entire article here. (PDF is available here)

• At least 48 states addressed or still face shortfalls in their budgets for the upcoming year.


• Even before the new fiscal year starts July 1, new shortfalls of $23 billion have opened up in the adopted 2010 budgets of at least 12 states and the District of Columbia. Shortfalls for fiscal year 2010 – those already addressed and those still open -- total $166 billion.


• At least 29 states have prepared estimates for the 2011 fiscal year. Initial estimates of these shortfalls total almost $38 billion. As the full extent of 2011 deficits become known, shortfalls are likely to equal $160 to $180 billion.


• Combined budget gaps for the remainder of this fiscal year and state fiscal years 2010 and 2011 are estimated to total over $350 billion.