Survey: Turnaround for 2010 investment activity

Boston A survey recently released by Atlanta-based Jones Lang LaSalle found that 2010 is showing a marked investment turnaround from the uncertainty that has prevailed for the past two years.

According to Jones Lang LaSalle’s 2010 Spring Cross-Sector Survey, investors and developers in the nationwide retail, office, multifamily, industrial and hotel commercial real estate sectors appear overwhelmingly dedicated to increasing their overall investment activity this year compared with last.

While more than half (54%) of those surveyed predict an increase in their investment spending of up to 30%, an additional 20% have an even healthier outlook on the future, predicting their investment or development activity will be up 75% or greater relative to 2009. 

Just 7% of those responding projected their investment activity would decline in 2010.

Jones Lang LaSalle’s spring survey of nationwide property owners, development firms and professional services firm/consultants was completed by 60 planned attendees of the Urban Land Institute’s Spring Council Forum in Boston. The survey is conducted bi-annually in the spring and fall with comparative results provided in the following findings.

“Beginning in the third quarter of 2009, our Capital Markets teams began noticing a clear shift in the mindset of both buyers and sellers. Both felt that a true pricing floor had been reached and there was a real sense of confidence that we had turned a corner on the economic downturn,” said Jay Koster, Jones Lang LaSalle’s Americas Capital Markets president. “The issue now is that a majority of investors are seeking well-located core assets and those are simply hard to come by at the moment and scarcity is driving upward pricing momentum in these assets.  Given the limited core investment opportunities, we expect distressed assets to garner a vast uptick in interest in the coming months.”