Commercial News Edition | WORLD PROPERTY JOURNAL

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished 2018 down 3.5% and lost 13% of its value between October 2018 and December 2018 alone -- its worst annual performance since 2008. The downturn rippled through world equity markets.

According to CBRE, the availability rate for U.S. industrial real estate declined by 8 basis points (bps) in the fourth quarter of 2018, while demand for warehouses exceeded the delivery of newly constructed supply by roughly 6 million square feet.

Commercial and multifamily mortgage originators in the U.S. expect 2019 to be another strong year in lending activity.

Commercial/Multifamily DataBook, as researched by Jamie Woodwell, MBA's Vice President of Commercial Real Estate Research; the overall U.S. economic strength in the first three quarters of 2018 has further tightened the job market.

Commercial real estate investors in the U.S. are feeling more confident this week after the Federal Reserves' fourth interest rate hike in 2018, according to global real estate consultant CBRE.

Manhattan's most popular retail corridors experienced widespread asking rent declines in the fall of 2018. Out of the 17 high-profile corridors, 15 posted year-over-year decreases in ground floor retail average asking rents per square foot

The recent 7.1 magnitude earthquake that stunned Mexico City (and surrounding states of Mexico, Morelos and Puebla) is now having a strong impact on Mexico's commercial real estate market.

A vast majority of real estate investors intend to increase their property acquisitions in 2016.

London's West End is the world's most expensive office market for the third consecutive year, retaining its title ahead of runner-up Hong Kong.

The property division of Carrefour Argentina has opened Terrazas de Mayo, a new shopping centre valued at $29 million,

Money will continue to flow into real estate from across the capital markets worldwide, but investors should be increasingly concerned about getting caught late in the cycle

Fundamentals are improving across many office markets in The Americas, Asia Pacific and Europe as we head into 2015.

According to JLL, commercial real estate investment volumes in Russia reached $2.8bn in 2018, down 39% YoY from $4.7bn. Within the total, Q4 2018 investments were $966m, half the levels of Q4 2017.

Global real estate consultant JLL is report that €3.6 billion of Irish property traded during the year 2018 across nearly 200 deals.

According to International real estate consultant Savills' 30th annual Financing Property report, the UK property lending market is largely stable as a result of pressure on interest cover ratios (ICRs) and debt yields.

Global real estate consulting firm Knight Frank is reporting this week that in the first half of 2018 £5.6 billion ($7.2 billion USD) of international capital was invested in the London commercial real estate market. Hong Kong was second with £5 billion ($6.4B) and Paris third with £1.9 billion ($2.4B).

According to JLL, the vacancy rate of Moscow's office market continued to decline in Q2, 2018 amid low completions and rising take-up. The current vacancy, at 12.0%, is the lowest since Q3 2008. The decline began in Q3 2015 when it was 17%.

According to global real estate consultant JLL, Russia's commercial real estate investment volumes reached USD1.29bn in H1 2018, down 39% YoY from USD2.13bn in H1 2017, says JLL.

According to JLL's latest Hong Kong Property Market Monitor report, despite lingering uncertainty surrounding the global economy and a slumping local stock market, co-working operators remained a major source of demand in the office leasing market in December last year.

Global commercial real estate consultant JLL is reporting this week that Asia Pacific's overall real estate transaction volumes in 2019 are expected to rise by five per cent, though the pace of growth momentum will slow down.

According to CBRE, recentralization and a flight to quality are helping to drive an uptick in Brisbane's prime CBD office market, underpinned by record levels of investment in new development projects.

According to a new report from global real estate consultant JLL, Hong Kong's Central District has the world's most expensive rent for premium offices for the fourth year running.

According to JLL's latest Hong Kong Property Market Monitor, rents in the overall Grade A office market continued to rise albeit at a slower pace last month. Average rent of Grade A office climbed 0.5% m-o-m in October, compared to a 1.0% m-o-m growth in September 2018.

According to new research by CBRE, real estate debt in Asia Pacific is increasingly cementing itself as an alternative investment class as global investors seek new opportunities to deploy capital into this sector.

With positive government interventions to bring in more investors and diversify Bahrain's real estate market, retail remains a significant area of growth in the Kingdom's property sector.

The recently announced Emirates Towers Business Park is set to become Dubai's most defining commercial development in over 10 years.

Dubai's vision to diversify its economy further and establish itself as a thriving global business hub has accelerated business activity in a number of innovative industries, in turn spurring a new stream of demand for industrial space.

A slowing rate of decline across all sectors of the Dubai real estate market suggests increasing stability and the expectation of the market 'bottoming out' before the end of 2017, but the planned introduction of VAT on January 1, 2018 is already causing nervousness amongst existing commercial tenants.

According to international real estate consultant Cluttons, the global economic anxiety and growth slowdown across regional markets has played a significant role in the decreased demand for industrial real estate in Dubai.

According to CBRE Group, Middle East investment in the global commercial real estate sector reached nearly $10 billion in the first half of 2016.