2006 Was a Banner Year for Commercial

Commercial real estate represents 90 percent of the most-expensive deals of the year, the top eight of which are each more than $1 billion.
By: Maya Roney: REALTOR® Magazine Online
Half of the largest-ever, U.S. single-asset real estate deals in history were announced or closed during the past 12 months.

Commercial real estate represents 90 percent of the most-expensive deals of the year, the top eight of which are each more than $1 billion.

The largest deal of the year — and of all time — was the sale of MetLife’s Stuyvesant Town residential complex in Manhattan to Tishman Speyer for $5.4 billion.

Other colossal transactions include the pending $1.8 billion sale of the Mall of America in Minnesota, San Francisco’s $1.05 billion Bank of America Center, and the $880 million State Street Financial Center in Boston.

“We’re seeing a wave of capital that has entered or would like to enter the commercial real estate industry,” says Dan Fasulo, director of market analysis at Real Capital Analytics, a commercial real estate research firm. “And there are no signs of abatement anytime soon,” he adds.