Detroit May 2023 Key Take Aways
• Steve Sallen – Maddin Hauser – Steve shared that his trip to Arizona to attend the Law Firm Alliance Group was a big success, and the group is very excited to come to Detroit in October. Steve anticipates that it could be the biggest turnout for the LFA group ever, and he needs to put together a presentation for the October meeting.
• Nick Maloof – Associated Environmental Services – Nick attended the ICSC meeting and there were 430 attendees with 30 round table groups. Retail was active. Panel on Brownfields happening in August. Banks are holding $1.3 trillion in low-interest money. A lot of clients are kicking the can and waiting for better times.
• Dave Dismondy – District Capital – Larger deals are moving slowly. Some smaller ones are moving for them now.
• David Hart – Maddin Hauser – David’s son is in the market to buy a new house and cannot get one because they sell so fast. His litigation work is bombarded with boundary disputes between neighbors who have issues with each other.
• Phil Seaver – ATA National Title Group – Home inventories are very low still. Nobody is moving because of higher interest rates and the inability to afford to move. Seniors are also staying put. Most people CAN’T move because of their financial circumstances.
• Mike Sabrosky – Oliver / Hatcher Construction – Material costs are not coming down. Steel, mechanical, plumbing supplies, everything is still pricey.
• Dan Stys – Professional Engineering Associates – Seeing more homes on the market due to the typical seasonal flow, however, most are not for sale for very long. Opportunities are up for engineers – need more people to cover all of the work.
• Scott Elliott – Signature Associates – Office market is still soft. Office construction on Woodward in Detroit and in Bloomfield Hills by Hudson.
• Brian Fineran – CoStar Group – The new Right to Work order will kill deals for new business. Brian attended the ICSC meeting where developers were talking about mixed-use properties. They talked about the main roadblocks being procedural. Brian also indicated that a recent article in Barron’s spoke about Detroit in relationship to the early Austin, Texas days in terms of development. Consumer credit cards are close to maxed out now, and Private Equity groups are sitting on the sidelines even though they have money because they seem to be insecure about the safety of deals right now. We have a liquidity problem.
• Tom Barrett – The State Bank – Tom says that he has nothing positive to say about circumstances right now. Banks are in trouble because of their liquidity and valuation problems. He had an opportunity to participate in the ICSC and was grateful for the nod from them. Tom indicates that banks have many of their assets misplaced and they can reprice loans that are already granted to some of their customers, even if the customers don’t like it. He encouraged agents to approach the banks and have them make an offer to reprice some of the loans.
• Tony Roberts – Newmark Valuation & Advisory – We are always looking for data, but we are not making any downward adjustments to valuations yet. Although he is seeing new construction, it is not as much as it used to be. Has seen some retail. While bridge loans are looking problematic to some, Tony’s team has not been hit with many problems.
• Barry Swatsenbarg – Colliers International – Colliers has a very large auction business on TenX. Office has been challenged, and some clients are upgrading to nicer office spaces with more amenities. Barry sees Michigan as a “fly-over” market for many who are going to and from the east coast to the west coast or Chicago. He believes that it is because Michigan doesn’t have the institutional capital that others have. Auction is for exposure now. Barry can move a $30 million deal in 70 days with no problem. We shouldn’t be hiding behind a “wait until it gets better” attitude. The tenant history health is important.
• Peter Rogers – CBRE – Industrial is still the darling of the commercial real estate market. Industrial is still hot for 2023 but might suffer a slowdown in 2024. CBRE is busy quoting deals because it is the busy construction season now. There seems to be a lot getting leased.
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