Thursday, March 4, 2010

National Yearly Home Prices Continue to Improve

TRUCKEE, CA – Mar. 4, 2010 – Clear Capital (www.clearcapital.com), a premium provider of data and solutions for real estate asset valuation, investment and risk assessment, today released its Home Data Index™ (HDI) Market Report.

 Patent pending rolling quarter technology significantly reduces the multi-month lag time associated with other indices to help investors, loan servicers and individual buyers and sellers make more informed, timely and profitable decisions.

Report highlights include:

National / Four Region Overview: With February numbers accounted for, the National yearly home prices continued to improve posting a 5.0% price change, while quarter-over-quarter price change was flat at 0.0%. All four U.S. regions posted very consistent quarterly price changes within 1.4% of the national figure.

Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) drilldown: Providence, R.I. rose to the top of the highest performing markets list with a 6.1% quarterly price change.

Los Angeles, Calif. prices gained 2.2% for the quarter, giving California five of the 15 highest performing markets. REO saturation edged up in eleven of fifteen of these markets this month by an average of 1.3%.

Micro Market Analysis: The Boston, Mass. micro markets, one of the first to see prices drop at the beginning of the downturn, saw yearly home prices recover 6.9%.

For a complete copy of the report, please contact: 

Heather Pond, 735 Market Street 4th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94103, 415. 593.1400 ext. 230, heather@atomicpr.com

Crossman & Co. Delivers 2010 ICSC Florida Retail Report at ICSC’s West Florida Idea Exchange

TAMPA, Fla. --- Crossman & Company, which ranks as one of the largest third-party retail leasing and management firms in the Southeast, delivered its ICSC 2010 Florida Retail Report at the ICSC West Florida Idea Exchange held recently in Tampa.

Senior associate Justin Greider  (top right photo) presented the ICSC 2010 Florida Retail Report at the conference, and spoke about some of the highlights and significant trends found in the report.

“After seeing a dramatic decline in consumer spending in 2008 and early 2009, we saw consumers begin to increase their spending slightly throughout the second half of the year,” Greider stated.

The report showed that overall retail fundamentals declined, as expected, through 2009, with the statewide occupancy rate now at 89 percent, with Miami being the only market in the state remaining above 90 percent.

“In the 3rd and 4th quarters we saw stability returning to the market, in rents, occupancy, as well as on the capital market side,” Greider added.

For a copy of the report, contact Justin Greider at Jgreider@crossmanco.com  or 407-581-6225 or visit www.CrossmanCo.com.

For more information contact:

John Crossman, CCIM, President, Crossman & Company, 407-581-6218, jcrossman@crossmanco.com
Larry Vershel or Beth Payan, Larry Vershel Communications, 407-644-4142, lvershelco@aol.com

EastGroup Properties Announces 121st Consecutive Quarterly Cash Dividend


JACKSON, MS Mar.  4, 2010– EastGroup Properties (NYSE-EGP) announced today that its Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $.52 per share payable on March 31, 2010 to shareholders of record of Common Stock on March 19, 2010.

This dividend is the 121st consecutive quarterly distribution to EastGroup’s shareholders and represents an annualized dividend rate of $2.08 per share.

EastGroup Properties, Inc. is a self-administered equity real estate investment trust focused on the development, acquisition and operation of industrial properties in major Sunbelt markets throughout the United States with an emphasis in the states of Florida, Texas, Arizona and California.

 Its strategy for growth is based on its property portfolio orientation toward premier business distribution facilities clustered near major transportation features. EastGroup’s portfolio currently includes 28.1 million square feet.

Contacts:
David H. Hoster II, President and Chief Executive Officer

N. Keith McKey, Chief Financial Officer, (601) 354-3555

Hook McCullough New Face at Grubb & Ellis: Larry Emmons Rejoins Firm


SANTA ANA, CA – Grubb & Ellis Company (NYSE: GBE), a leading real estate services and investment firm, today announced that industry veteran Hook McCullough, (top right photo)  CCIM, CPM, has been named vice president, director, Private Capital Markets.

 McCullough joins from CB Richard Ellis, where he served private investors in the industrial, office and retail sectors, a position he held for 17 years.

At Grubb & Ellis, McCullough will leverage his more than 35 years of commercial real estate experience and extensive knowledge of the private capital investment sales market to further enhance the services Grubb & Ellis provides to investors.

The company’s Capital Markets platform, which includes industry-leading research, sophisticated technology and specialized practice groups, enables professionals to help clients attain the highest possible return on their investments.

“I’ve known Hook for many years and have worked with him in the private capital and investor world,” said Glen Esnard, middle left photo) president, Capital Markets. “He knows this market space and is tremendously passionate about it. With his direction, Grubb & Ellis is in an excellent position to build the best private capital investment platform in the industry.”

McCullough is based in the company’s Newport Beach, Calif., office. He will be responsible for directing Grubb & Ellis’ private capital investment brokerage business, including overseeing the company’s 31 brokers in the Private Capital Markets group. He will also focus on recruiting top-producing brokerage professionals in primary and secondary markets throughout the U.S.

Larry Emmons Rejoins Grubb & Ellis  as Senior Vice President, Investment Group

MIAMI, FL – Grubb & Ellis Company (NYSE: GBE), a leading real estate services and investment firm, announced today that Larry Emmons,  (middle right photo) SIOR, CCIM, a 23-year veteran commercial real estate investment brokerage professional, has rejoined the firm as senior vice president, Investment Group.

“We couldn’t be more excited about Larry’s decision to rejoin Grubb & Ellis,” said Jonathan Kingsley, (bottom left photo) managing director and executive vice president of Grubb & Ellis’ South Florida offices. “With his diverse experience on both the brokerage side and the investor side of the business, Larry brings a tremendous skill set and national relationships.”

Emmons returns to Grubb & Ellis following one year as a director in Marcus & Millichap’s National Office and Industrial Properties Group and four years with First Industrial Realty Trust, where he served as the senior investment officer in the Florida market and regional director in the Detroit market.

While at First Industrial, Emmons was responsible for acquisitions for the company’s industrial real estate presence in Florida. He was originally recruited to First Industrial in 2004 to oversee the company’s 6.5-million-square-foot portfolio in Southeast Michigan.

Before joining First Industrial, Emmons was a senior vice president in the Industrial Group of Grubb & Ellis’ Southfield, Mich., office, a position he held from 1999 to 2004. He also served in industrial brokerage roles at Colliers International and Hanzl, Kepic and VanLokeren, Inc., where he began his career in commercial real estate in 1987.

Contact: Erin Mays, Phone: 312.698.6735, Email: erin.mays@grubb-ellis.com