- Direxion Daily Real Estate Bear 3x (DRV): launched July 16
Larry Light for The Wall Street Journal reports that while the housing market is showing sings of bottoming, the commercial real estate market has a longer drop before a turnaround.
Among the issues facing the sector right now include:
- REITs face at least two years of crushing debt maturities
- Downward-sliding property values
- Low occupancy rates that continue to fall and earnings that are only weakening
Some, however, are bullish on REITs. There are analysts out there who feel that the sector has seen the worst, and 2010 will mark a period of improvement. Some pension funds are also jumping in. Cadillac Fairview Corp. acquired a 49% stake in a Queens mall last week. It’s a sign to some that more pension funds could be coming forward with money, says Anton Troianovski for The Wall Street Journal.
- SPDR Dow Jones REIT (RWR): up 6.9% year-to-date
- iShares FTSE NAREIT Industrial/Office Complex (FIO): up 4.4% year-to-date
For more stories about commercial real estate, visit our commercial real estate category.