After a large earthquake there’s a span of time when everyone waits for the dust to settle. The survivors of such an event use the time in different ways. Some hunker down and worry about aftershocks; some will step back from the wreckage and begin to assess damages; some will wade through the rubble to see what can be salvaged. That was a little bit like the year real estate investors experienced in 2009.
Capital investment made to commercial real estate saw a second year of declines, according to Institutional Real Estate Inc.'s (IREI) database of publicly announced commitments.
The Institutional Real Estate Universe tracked the launch of 97 investment funds in the past 12 months, including five infrastructure funds — a new fund category for the Universe — compared with 145 new product offerings in 2008.
Capital flows in the second quarter of 2009 dipped to a new low as investment managers focused on shoring up existing portfolio assets or decided to sit tight until property values adjust even lower.