$85M Financing Arranged by HFF for Boston Harbor Garage

BOSTON, MA – The Boston office of HFF (Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P.) has arranged $85 million in financing for the Boston Harbor Garage, a 1,380-space parking garage with 30,000 square feet of street-level retail.

HFF senior managing director Riaz Cassum (top right photo) and real estate analyst Carlos Febres-Mazzei worked on behalf of a joint venture between The Chiofaro Company and Prudential Real Estate Investors to secure the five-year, fixed-rate loan through Hartford Investment Management Company.

The venture acquired the property in an all-cash transaction in December 2007.

The Boston Harbor Garage is located at 70 East India Road in downtown Boston, adjacent to the New England Aquarium (photo at left) and along the Rose Kennedy Greenway, a recently created boulevard with a series of parks linking several urban neighborhoods.

“The Boston Harbor Garage is among the highest income-producing garages in the City of Boston with an unparalleled location at the core of Boston’s Financial District and frontage on both the new Greenway and the Boston Harbor.,” said Cassum. “This transaction was a welcome challenge given the size of the deal and the current state of global capital markets.”

The Chiofaro Company is a privately held, independent firm engaged in the development, investment, leasing, management and ownership of real estate properties of the highest quality, including Boston’s International Place.

It is one of New England’s leading developers and operators of first class commercial and research projects.

HFF (NYSE: HF) operates out of 18 offices nationwide and is a leading provider of commercial real estate and capital markets services to the U.S. commercial real estate industry. HFF offers clients a fully integrated national capital markets platform including debt placement, investment sales, structured finance, private equity, note sales and note sale advisory services and commercial loan servicing.

CONTACTS:

Riaz A. Cassum, HFF Senior Managing Director, 617 338 0990, rcassum@hfflp.com

Laurie Fish McDowell, HFF Associate Director, Marketing, 617 338 0990, lmcdowell@hfflp.com

Foreclosure Activity Decreases 3% in June, According to RealtyTrac(r)

Foreclosure Activity Up 53 Percent From June 2007

IRVINE, Calif. – July 10, 2008 – RealtyTrac® (http://www.realtytrac.com/), the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, today released its June 2008 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report™, which shows foreclosure filings — default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions — were reported on 252,363 U.S. properties during the month, a 3 percent decrease from the previous month but still a 53 percent increase from June 2007.

The report also shows one in every 501 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing during the month.

“June was the second straight month with more than a quarter million properties nationwide receiving foreclosure filings,” said James J. Saccacio, (top right photo) chief executive officer of RealtyTrac.

“Foreclosure activity slipped 3 percent lower from the previous month, but the year-over-year increase of more than 50 percent indicates we have not yet reached the top of this foreclosure cycle.

"Bank repossessions, or REOs, continue to increase at a much faster pace than default notices or auction notices. REOs in June were up 171 percent from a year ago, while default notices were up 38 percent and auction notices were up 22 percent over the same time period.”

Despite slight monthly decreases in foreclosure activity, Nevada, California and Arizona continued to document the three highest state foreclosure rates in June. (Las Vegas night photo at middle right; Los Angeles evening skyline at left)

RealtyTrac publishes the largest and most comprehensive national database of foreclosure and bank-owned properties, with over 1.5 million properties from over 2,200 counties across the country, and is the foreclosure data provider to MSN Real Estate, Yahoo! Real Estate and The Wall Street Journal’s Real Estate Journal.

For a complete copy of the report, please contact Tammy Chan, Atomic PR,

415-402-0230
tammy@atomicpr.com

Lenders Closely Pricing Most Types of Income-Property Deals, Says RECI

CHICAGO, IL-- Nearly a year ago, the capital markets imploded as Wall Street retreated on a massive scale from securitized debt investments.

By this time, most lenders were very closely pricing most types of income-property deal as banks, life companies and CMBS sources crowded the markets with surplus cash.

For a while mortgage spreads below 100 basis points over comparable-term treasuries were common, even for full-leverage loans.

For example in June, 2007, the rate range was extremely tight for most conventional property types. Minor pricing differentiation existed among apartments, hospitality and commercial properties, even after factoring into account primary and secondary locations.

All in all, properties were financed in the 6%+ range and slightly lower for premium quality properties with conservative leverage -- in the 5.8% range. While mortgage spreads doubled during the past year, overall "coupon"interest rates on five and ten-year maturities are relatively similar.

Today, even after accounting for higher spreads of 200 basis points or moreover comparable-term treasuries for permanent fixed-rate mortgages, rates start at about 6% and also may dip below this threshold level for extremely low-leverage funding situations with long-term debt.

The following table illustrates today's key market indices and overall rate ranges for income properties based on conventional leverage 75%or less:

Once again, the above fixed-rate mortgage spreads can be reduced by about 20to 30 basis points for low leverage multifamily deals, particularly via the agencies.

And while the rate range is extremely wide, lenders will distinguish and competitively price "Core" funding opportunities in major markets much more so than a year ago.

Higher-leverage, secondary market properties are priced at the high-end of the rate curve, in line with"typical" market conditions reflecting risk/reward premiums. Permanent loan term makes a difference, depending upon the lender.

Some lenders differentiate mortgage spreads between five and ten-year pricing, while others set base "floor" limits. Five year allocations are rapidly depleting as this term is popular with borrowers seeking more flexibility in anticipation of improving capital market conditions in the near term future.

As for floating rate loans, banks continue quoting over Libor and swapping-out the loans for borrower preferring fixed-rate debt. The best spreads using Libor start at about 180 bps. In a nutshell, banks are often about 25 basis points inside other funding sources for short-term funds offive years or less.

For the most part, banks seldom offer 10-yearfixed-rate loans. Probably the most significant change in the marketplace relates to leverage, not rates.

Today's "full leverage" deal represents 65%, where as a year ago75% to 80% was quite common. According to Gary Duff, (top right photo) advisory board member of the Real Estate Capital Institute, "All in all, rates are still very attractive by historical standards; however, more equity is required to capture financing."

(Left photo shows Federal Reserve Bank building, Washington, DC)

About Us: The Real Estate Capital Institute(r) is a volunteer-based research organization that tracks realty rates data for debt and equity yields. The Institute posts daily and historical benchmark rates including treasuries, bank prime and LIBOR.

Call the Real Estate Capital RateLine at 7RE-CAPITAL (773-227-4825) for hourly rate updates. The Real Estate Capital Institute(r), 3517 West Arthington Street, Chicago, Illinois USA 60624

Contact: Nat Zvislo, Research DirectorToll Free 800-994-RECI (7324) director@reci.com / www.reci.com