Trends
August 2008 Federal, California, and Silicon Valley Unemployment Numbers
October 3, 2008
The latest unemployment numbers for August 2008 have been released and the economy continues to trend lower as unemployment nationwide, statewide, and locally have all continued to trend higher.
The graph to the right shows the trend over three years, but what we are seeing over a longer time period is that statewide, the unemployment rates have [...]
GE To Cut Real Estate Portfolio by More Than 10% Next Year
October 2, 2008
Costar is reporting that GE is planning a $10B haircut to its real estate holdings next year. This comes at a time when the cost of capital is increasing, its availability decreasing, and the supply of real estate assets available for sale will be spiking (think Lehman, AIG, Merrill, just to name a few).
The Fed has talked [...]
San Jose Condos Going Rental
October 1, 2008
The Mercury News reported today on decisions by Barry Swenson and the CIM Group to convert for sale condos into rental units. Amongst the projects being converted include The Globe by CIM, and Barry Swenson’s Skyline and The Lofts on Alameda project.
This is no real surprise. What will be interesting to see is whether the [...]
AIG, The Bailout, and Legacy Partners
October 1, 2008
The $85B Bailout the Federal Reserve provided AIG involved a two-year loan designed to give AIG the headroom and time for it to conduct an orderly sale of its assets. Over the past several decades, AIG grew from a simple insurance company into a conglomerate which provides everything from aircraft leasing services to auto insurance. [...]
Read More >>Noted San Francisco Law Firm Heller Ehrman to Dissolve; Vacate 300K SF Locally
September 29, 2008
Heller Ehrman, a 500-lawyer firm with 14 domestic and international offices has voted to dissolve. The firm was founded in 1890 in San Francisco, and occupies fourteen floors (about 200-250K SF) at 333 Bush Street and has about 100K square feet at 275 Middlefield Road in Menlo Park locally.
The firm was one of the most notable in Silicon [...]
House Defeats Bailout
September 29, 2008
The House of Representatives voted 228 to 205 against the bailout this afternoon. It will likely go back to get reworked but for the time being it is going to translate into market peril worldwide. The Dow is already down about 5%, and the slide will likely continue across the globe.
A bailout of sorts will [...]
Bailout Proposal Nothing More than a Patriot Act II
September 24, 2008
“Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.”
That’s section 8 of the Treasury Department’s bailout proposal that the government is looking to drive through in much the same manner that it did the Patriot [...]