Bellwether

Last Friday, the Bellwether Women's Mentorship Program hosted its first event of the school year. The mentors and mentees had the opportunity to tour 444 S Flower, an office building in Downtown Los Angeles. The Bellwether Women's Mentorship Program connects local university students interested in pursuing careers in commercial real estate with women at Bellwether to provide mentorship and guidance in the field. Thank you to the property management team and Carolyn Leslie for leading our property tour and educating the mentees on the DTLA office market.

To continue our employee spotlight series, we’d like to highlight Malcolm Au, an associate on our ESG team in Los Angeles.

* Elections are major events that continually occur throughout the world.?In the U.S., the presidential election is the most significant and occurs every four years. While these political events can create uncertainty about the country's future, their impact on transaction activity for commercial real estate is less clear. * Combined quarterly transaction volume for office, multifamily, and industrial assets since 2000 shows no consistent pattern during election years. Some election years saw positive changes in transaction volume, while others experienced negative changes. * Statistical testing reveals no significant correlation between election years and the volume of real estate transactions. This suggests that the U.S. election cycle is not a reliable predictor of commercial real estate transactions. * We also checked correlations post-election and based on whether the winner was a republican or democrat. None showed a significant relationship. * Instead, commercial real estate transactions are primarily driven by market dynamics such as: * Interest rates: Lower interest rates lead to a lower cost of capital and generally greater availability of capital for real estate transactions * Economic growth: Economic growth generates greater demand from the users of real estate * Investor sentiment: Positive sentiment can lead to more optimistic valuations and increased confidence when transacting * Real estate fundamentals: Strong fundamentals like rent growth, high occupancy, and net operating income growth can improve current and potential real estate returns and attract capital flows from investors * In conclusion, these factors have exhibited a more direct and measurable impact on transaction volumes throughout history compared to election cycles.

Bellwether offers an intensive four-week training program for all new analysts joining the firm, designed to build a strong foundation in real estate and asset management. The program includes hands-on modeling and ARGUS boot camps, in-depth asset-specific sessions, and a guest speaker series from respected industry professionals, all geared toward equipping analysts with the essential skills needed for a successful career. Hear from Christina Chan, Austin Hill and Jacob Ballou below on their experiences in the program.

Bellwether's Analyst & Associate Asset Management Program is an integral part of our company's platform—focused on attracting and training top-tier talent from renowned universities across the United States. The program offers diverse and extensive real estate exposure across investment vehicles, asset classes and the capital stack, empowering our analysts and associates to develop important relationships and build career-enhancing skills. Welcome to Bellwether Jacob Ballou Lucas Batten Tanner Burnett Dustin Carr Christina Chan Jacob Coombs Trevon Erickson Austin Hill Nikolas King Michael L. Andrew Shook Ryan Zanelli

Congratulations to our client Oaktree Capital Management, L.P. on YY London's achievement winning the award for Reconversion Project of the Year at the GRI Awards in Paris.

* At the start of August 2024, the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate stood at 6.73% according to Freddie Mac. At the same time, the 10-year U.S. Treasury had a market yield of 3.99%. * The 274-basis point spread between the two was nearly 100 basis points above the 50-year average spread of 178 basis points and approximately 75 basis points above the 10-year average spread of 198 basis points. * The elevated spread indicated an assessment by market participants of uncertainty in the U.S. mortgage market. The 10-year Treasury rate is commonly referred to as the risk-free rate, and spreads between market yields and the 10-year Treasury are a gauge of risk within market offerings. In the past, spreads on mortgages have risen above the average at times of economic recessions. * The causes of the expanded spread today are multi-faceted and include, but are not limited to, rate volatility which is creating term risk, and a perceived increase in the risk of default based on current affordability and inflation pressures. * If the spread returned to its 50-year average, then the 30-year fixed mortgage rate would be 5.77%, whereby the monthly payments on a median-priced home purchase would be 10% lower (a reduction of $232/mo), all else equal. Today the market is also projecting roughly 100 basis points of cuts to the federal funds rate by the end of the year, which could lower the 10-year Treasury yield and the 30-year mortgage rate, especially if rate cuts occur faster than market expectations. Reductions in the 30-year mortgage rate would benefit homebuyers by improving affordability and potentially releasing more inventory into the market. For more Bellwether Charts for Thought, click here: https://lnkd.in/gXBsshS5

Bellwether is excited to attend the ACG Los Angeles M&A SoCal 2024 conference next week. Please reach out to connect. Jigar Astik Greg Fink #MASoCal #ACGLA #ACGLosAngeles

Last weekend, members of the Bellwether team returned to MudTown Farms, an urban garden and community wellness center in Watts. Our team was moved by our experience at MudTown during our LA office’s annual Philanthropy Day this past April and made it a priority to establish an ongoing relationship with the farm. In addition to organizing a donation drive to provide the farm with key resources, the group spent the morning weeding, relocating plants, potting and helping extend beds to make room for future harvests.?