Sunday, October 18, 2009

How Far Are You From Lloyd Blankfein's Desk?

The recovery in the economy has been pretty much a Goldman Sachs recovery. The farther you are from Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein's desk, the tougher things are. Southern California is far from Blankefein's desk.

Almost 51 million square feet of office space in Los Angeles County, Orange County and the Inland Empire is now empty -- more than 17% of the total.

The exodus from office buildings that started in late 2007 accelerated during the third quarter as the anemic business climate took its toll on the real estate rental industry, according to the Cushman & Wakefield real estate brokerage.

"These vacancies are a direct reflection on unemployment," said Joe Vargas, an executive vice president at Cushman & Wakefield. "Companies continue to reduce their workforce, or they are not hiring."

"There was a dramatic drop-off in leasing velocity last quarter," said John McAniff, managing director of brokerage Jones Lang LaSalle. "Apparently the rebound on Wall Street did not translate to a rebound in tenant commitments. That tells me there is a lot of uncertainty out there."

1 comment:

  1. Goldman takes lead in CMBS/REMIC in second quarter.

    Treasury comes out with new rule allowing REMIC's to change interest rate or extend terms of loan at any time. No tax penalties and they keep their nonprofit status. Also, credit derivatives are not triggered.

    Coincidence?

    http://stateofthedivision.blogspot.com/2009/10/congress-rides-to-rescue-with-treasury.html

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