Law360
January.01.2013
This article, about the outlook for the real estate market in 2013, quotes real estate partner Dennis Martin.
Martin stated that private equity investment in real estate could be stymied by U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's statement in early December that interest rates would remain near zero until the federal unemployment rate drops below 6.5 percent.
"The private equity funds are able to move quickly to buy [real-estate-owned] or distressed assets because they have the capital and don't need to leverage as much. But you can keep distressed assets on your books a little longer because of the low rate of borrowing, which could slow down the sale of those distressed assets," Martin said.