Barclays PLC and Bank of America Corp Selling Their Stakes

NNN Lease Market News

Two Archstone Owners Decide to Sell Their Stakes

After months of wrangling with the estate of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. over how to unwind apartment giant Archstone, co-owners Barclays PLC and Bank of America Corp. have decided to wash their hands of the deal.

Unable to reach a consensus with Lehman on a plan to sell the entire company, the two banks are now trying to sell their stakes, which total 53%, according to people familiar with the matter. The banks' combined equity stakes in the company are likely worth between $2 billion and $3 billion, according to people familiar with Archstone's finances.


http://online.wsj.com/article

WestLB AG Seeks to Sell Loan Portfolio

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Troubled German bank WestLB AG is marketing a portfolio of loans backed by a diverse collection of hotels and resorts that include a ski lodge in Utah, a boutique hotel in lower Manhattan and a beach resort in Miami, according to the offering memorandum.WestLB was among a number of European banks that began lending aggressively to U.S. developers during the final years of the property market boom.

John Fox, a hotel analyst at Colliers PKF Consulting, said WestLB's lending may seem more risky because, unlike some foreign lenders, the German bank provided financing for more speculative resort projects
"Some of the overseas banks got into markets they didn't know as well as the urban markets," he said.
A spokeswoman for WestLB declined to comment. A hotel broker at Jones Lang LaSalle, the firm running the sale, also declined to comment.

http://online.wsj.com/article/

The Problem with The American Housing Market

NNN Lease Market News

What’s holding back these “sidelined sellers?” Some can’t sell because they owe more than their homes are worth, of course. But many more are simply paralyzed by the fear of selling and buying again in a falling market. Often at root here is what psychologists and behavioral economists call “loss aversion.” We avoid accepting a grim loss on a current investment, and recent research suggests that we over-estimate the pain associated with a future loss (say, with buying a home that then loses value).

So it’s understandable to want to wait for better days to sell, but—at least when it comes to your house—you’re probably making a mistake.
First, let’s dispense with the idea that better days are coming soon. The consensus among the 100 economists surveyed by Cambridge-based data firm MacroMarkets is that housing prices will slip 1.3% in 2011. That’s far, far too optimistic. At Zillow, we believe prices will tumble as much as 7% in 2011. After reaching the bottom, we expect real estate appreciation will remain in the doldrums for three to five years—something we’ve been forecasting for more than three years.
So we’re all going to have to make a little peace with falling prices.  But here’s the good news: If you run some numbers, you find that selling in a falling market is not always a bad idea. Especially if you’re thinking of trading in your current home for a smaller home or one in a less expensive neighborhood.

http://blogs.forbes.com/