A report from Bisnow. "The commercial real estate market is in limbo, with developers waiting to see if opportunities for low-interest rate refinancing and acquisitions bubble to the surface. But, the timeline for finding these opportunities in the post-COVID-19 landscape remains murky at best, especially as valuations are difficult to pin down. It's likely to stay this way until the timeline for curtailing the impact of the coronavirus becomes more apparent, giving appraisers the data needed to make true property valuations, National Valuation Consultants Senior Managing Director Chuck Dannis and Dreien Opportunity Partners CEO Sam Ware said."

"'Appraisers are just going to have to wait,' Dannis said. 'They are going to have to look for other things than just sales [as part of their valuations], which appraisers normally do. I think it’s pretty naive to think that values are not changing as we speak.'"

"'What I think we are going to see this time is just a sudden and precipitous, unprecedented drop in net income in a lot of the property types — hospitality, student housing, senior housing and the restaurant business,' Dannis said. 'This time I think we are going to have income shock … and so if, we don’t even change the rates, property values are going to come down.'"

The Greater Baton Rouge Business Report in Louisiana. "With the Legislature on indefinite hiatus, LSU classes being taught online through the summer, travel restricted throughout the country, and spring festivals canceled, local property owners who rely on the student and short-term rental markets as a source of income are taking a massive hit from the coronavirus crisis. 'I can tell you about a flattening curve,' says Steve Myers, who owns about 60 rental units with more than 250 tenants in the LSU, Garden District and Southdowns areas. 'It’s the rental market. It’s dead.'"

"Investors with short-term rental properties like those offered on Airbnb are also suffering. 'Airbnb has been obliterated, just like the hotel market,' says Tommy Talley, who has an ownership stake in nine units he leases on Airbnb. 'Everything has been canceled.'"

"For now, Myers is waiting to see what happens, trying to work with his tenants individually to determine their circumstances and crossing his fingers that LSU reopens this fall. 'It isn’t going to be pretty if LSU doesn’t reopen,' he says. 'I can tell you what my recourse is going to be: bankruptcy court. You can’t go six or eight months with no income.'"

The Philadelphia Inquirer in Pennsylvania. "The coronavirus appears to be driving down rents at the Philadelphia area’s biggest apartment buildings, especially new ones, as the pandemic begins restricting the shopping — and threatening the livelihoods — of potential home-hunters. The health crisis coincides with a massive increase in new inventory in the region. Last year, developers brought to market 4,771 new apartments in buildings with more than five units. That’s down from the previous two years, but still more than any year before those since at least 1982, the earliest date for which CoStar data were available."

"Landlords are now left to compete with one another to fill these vast blocks of empty space in their newly opened properties, said Adrian Ponsen, CoStar’s analytics director for Philadelphia. 'If you have had your eye on a newly built apartment building in your neighborhood, the next few months will be an excellent time to call and negotiate a lease,' Ponsen said. 'Landlords will be offering the most competitive rents they can.'"

"Another real-estate data firm, Delta Associates, listed five Philadelphia apartment buildings as less than half-leased as of the end of 2019 in its most recent quarterly report on the city’s rental market. Those projects are the 198-unit first phase of Dwell on Second Street, at Second and Thompson Streets north of Northern Liberties, which was 93 percent vacant; the 216-unit View at Old City at Fourth and Race Streets, which was 63 percent vacant; and the Irvine, on 52nd Street south of Baltimore Avenue, and Crane Chinatown, at 10th and Vine Streets, which were both nearly 60 percent vacant."

"Elsewhere in metro Philadelphia, but outside the city itself, CoStar tallied 18 new apartment projects, comprising 4,242 units, 54 percent of which remained empty. Even before the seriousness of the pandemic became apparent, commercial real estate firm JLL noted in a research report that vacancy rates in newly built suburban apartment buildings were twice as high as those in older ones, with thousands of new units on the way."

"'The question is whether absorption can keep pace after such a significant jump in supply,' JLL’s analysts wrote in the report."

"But even if landlords have found ways to remotely market their properties, they may still struggle to get potential tenants excited about the fancy gyms, outdoor grilling stations, dog runs, and other accoutrements that once served as a major enticement, CoStar’s Ponsen said. Developers invested heavily in such features, which now sit empty due to measures aimed at stemming the spread of the coronavirus. 'How interested are you in moving into a building with a heightened amenity set when you’re not necessarily going to be able to use the gym or the game room over the next few months?' Ponsen said."

The Midland Reporter Telegram in Texas. "The impact of the oil downturn on apartment rents in Midland-Odessa continued in March, according to a report from RentCafe. The online guide to the nation’s apartment industry reported that the average rent in Midland dropped 11.7 percent year over year during the month of March. In Odessa, the average rent dropped 10.4 percent. 'The decrease is accelerating compared to February as well,' RentCafe noted."

From Multi-Housing News. "The student housing sector has been shaken amid uncertainty over the exact length and scope of the coronavirus outbreak, with operators and investors bracing for the possibility of revenue losses at properties across the country. However, some in the industry are confident the niche that many call 'recession-proof' will feel very minor impacts. The other big worry for those in the industry is construction timelines. Some cities around the country have put a halt to all non-essential construction for safety measures, potentially leaving current projects under construction, like student housing properties, in limbo."

"'Once the school year starts, if you haven’t leased your beds, you’re very unlikely to do so,' said Matthew Berger, vice president of tax & student housing at the National Multifamily Housing Council. 'If your property isn’t ready to lease by start of the school year due to construction delays, you could lose a whole year of rent.'"

The Evanston Round-Table in Illinois. "The lack of affordable housing for both low- and middle-income seniors in Evanston is a serious problem, Margaret Gergen, a member of the Age Friendly Evanston Task Force Housing Committee, told the aldermen at a City Council meeting held shortly before the COVID-19 crises became a reality. For low- and middle-income seniors, there is a shortage of affordable housing for independent-living, and there are no affordable assisted-living units at all."

"The Sawgrass Study also indicates that the number of market-rate assisted-living units that are already in Evanston or that are proposed may be enough, and that the City 'could be overbuilt' for market-rate units. 'Evanston has no affordable assisted living units in Evanston. None,' said Ms. Gergen. 'Seniors who need affordable assisted-living really have no options in Evanston.'"

From CNBC. "Retailers are worried about paying rent because of the damage from the coronavirus pandemic. And that has mall owners increasingly worried about meeting their own obligations. Mall of America- and American Dream-owner Triple Five Group has said it is concerned about some of its tenants not paying rent, which is going to hinder its ability to make mortgage payments. Some retailers are asking to cut rents to a smaller percentage, or delay payment to a later date."

"In turn, landlords are arguing they still have their own bills to pay, too. U.S. mall owner Taubman, for example, sent a letter to its tenants on March 25 saying it has obligations to meet — such as paying lenders on mortgages and paying for utilities. 'The rental income that we receive from tenants is essential in order to meet these obligations,' Taubman said."

"Triple Five Group is running into a similar situation, American Dream co-CEO Don Ghermezian told CNBC in an interview. 'The difficulty we are going though now … if tenants don’t want to pay rent, my response is: I have got to pay a mortgage. I borrowed money. I have got to pay back my lenders.' If there is not more assistance to come from the federal government on this front, 'many malls will be headed into default because they won’t be able to make mortgage payments going forward,' he said."

The Wall Street Journal. "When the coronavirus started spreading in the U.S., office owners with long-term, stable leases hoped their buildings would become a haven for skittish investors. But nearly a month into the pandemic, the opposite has happened. Investors are dumping shares of major office real-estate investment trusts. Sales of skyscrapers are unraveling, and office tenants across the country are negotiating to lower their rent bills."

"Office owners also tend to have more debt, in part because banks have been willing to lend more against assets they deemed safe. Having a lot of debt is 'scary on the downside and limits their ability to be offensive when the economy turns around,' said Daniel Ismail, a senior analyst at Green Street Advisors."

"The office selloff indicates that trouble in commercial real estate is spreading beyond hotels and retail properties and now threatens much of the $16 trillion U.S. commercial real-estate market and the $4.5 trillion in mortgage debt secured by it. The value of commercial mortgage-backed securities has plummeted and new lending has mostly ground to a halt. Some lenders that hold commercial mortgages and mortgage-backed securities are facing margin calls from their banks."

"Co-working companies and similar businesses, which accounted for 6.5% of new leases in the U.S. in the first half of 2019 according to brokerage CBRE Group, have mostly stopped signing new deals and some are fighting for financial survival. Michael Silver, chairman of the occupier services firm Vestian, said 75% to 80% of the companies he works with are approaching their landlords about rent relief. One of Mr. Silver’s clients looking for rent relief is a major law firm with offices across the U.S., another is a financial-services firm, he said. The motivation: saving money ahead of what could be a long economic downturn."

"'It’s not that they’re in financial trouble. It’s that they’re trying to be prudent about developing a new playbook for a new economy,' Mr. Silver said. 'It’s just a new era where the tenant will have the leverage.'"