Financing Volume in 2024
Commercial Observer
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Commercial real estate financing activity ground to a near halt early on in 2023. It picked up again toward the end of the year — and might really take off in 2024. Read all about it today, and also check out this big news from Los Angeles: A converted mall once destined to be Google’s newest hub is now becoming a life sciences complex instead.
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— Tom Acitelli, Deputy Editor
Commercial Real Estate Financing Volume Likely to Rebound in 2024
The sun peeked out from the clouds in mid-December for commercial real estate lending after a mostly gloomy year. In a 2023 largely defined by uncertainty over how high the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates, the commercial real estate market got a boost when the central bank indicated Dec. 13 that its hawkish strategy fighting inflation was likely done, and that multiple rate cuts were on the table for 2024. The Fed brought short-term interest rates to their highest level in 22 years at between 5.25 percent and 5.5 percent. It’s now forecasting to close 2024 with rates at 4.6 percent followed by 3.6 percent in late 2025 and 2.9 percent by the end of 2026, based on current economic conditions.
After $700M Deal, UCLA To Transform Westside Pavilion Into Research Park
Hudson Pacific Properties and mall giant Macerich have sold the projects known as One Westside and Westside Two in Los Angeles in a landmark $700 million deal with the University of California. UCLA announced Wednesday it will transform the 687,000-square-foot property on L.A.’s Westside into a large-scale research park. This comes after CO first reported the property was set to be a life sciences redevelopment after news broke that UCLA wanted to buy the former shopping center that was intended to be a trophy office for Google through 2036.
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