Business Specialties  Investment
Prices Drop in Second Quarter, MIT Index Finds
Aug 03, 2009

Prices for commercial real estate dropped at a record level in the second quarter despite an increase in sales, according to an index developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Real Estate. In a report released on Monday and first appearing on Reuters, the center quoted its index as finding that property sold by major institutional investors dropped 18.1 percent, to a level that is down 22 percent for the year, 32 percent from a year ago and 39 percent from its mid-2007 peak, despite transaction volume that increased for the first time since last summer. The decline is greater than the 27 percent drop in the late 1980s/early 1990s and even with it when adjusted for inflation, which brings both periods to a 41 percent drop.


 
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