Commercial real estate developers and executives in Missouri and around the country are relatively upbeat about the sector’s prospects in the year ahead according to a May 2016 report commissioned by the financial services company CIT and prepared by Forbes Insights. The report polled more than 200 senior CRE executives, investors, brokers and attorneys between Feb. 12 and March 14 about the state of the commercial property market and the economy in general.
More than half of the respondents viewed their segments as either strong or very strong, but 44 percent expect to see significant declines in other areas. These mixed feelings were also observed when the respondents were asked about general market conditions. They said that the market currently offers both opportunities and challenges, and they felt that consumer confidence, unemployment levels and interest rates were among the factors that most influence the commercial property sector.
Opinions were also mixed about the federal government’s efforts to stabilize and grow the economy, and 48 percent of those polled felt that things would improve if a Republican were to win the White House in November. Views on the influence of technology were more consistent. While most of those surveyed agreed that technological innovations were revolutionizing the real estate market, a mere 11 percent of the respondents considered themselves to be in the forefront in this area.
If CIT and Forbes Insights had questioned the real estate executives, developers and investors about the problems that their projects ran into, construction disputes, zoning issues and tax matters would likely have featured prominently among the answers. Experienced real estate attorneys will likely have confronted these issues and can thus recommend proactive strategies designed to help developers to avoid such pitfalls and keep their projects on budget and on schedule.
