U.S. Commercial Property Index Rises 4.1% in December (Bloomberg)

By Brian Louis
Feb. 22 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. commercial property values had their biggest monthly rise on record in December as the number of transactions jumped, according to Moody’s Investors Service.

The Moody’s/REAL Commercial Property Price Index climbed 4.1 percent from November, the second straight monthly increase, Moody’s said today in a report. Transaction volume rose more than 75 percent from the previous month. Values, which fell to a seven-year low in October, are down 29 percent from a year earlier and are 41 percent lower than the peak in October 2007.

“Two months of positive returns and one month of higher transaction volume does not allow us to discern a trend just yet, particularly in light of the fact that year-end commercial real estate activity can distort the true condition of the markets,” the report said.

Landlords came under pressure in 2009 as rising joblessness cut demand for apartments, offices, retail space and distribution centers. Office vacancies jumped to a 15-year high of 17 percent in the fourth quarter, according to Reis Inc. While the period of “large” price declines is over, it is too early to say the market has bottomed, Moody’s said.

“It would be naïve and aggressive to say that we’ve seen the worst,” said Neal Elkin, president of Real Estate Analytics LLC, a real estate research firm in New York that provides the data for the Moody’s/REAL index.

The monthly gain in the index was the biggest in data going back to January 2000, Elkin said.

There were 716 transactions in December totaling $9 billion. The month was the first in 2009 that year-over-year dollar volume growth was positive, at just under 5 percent, Moody’s said. The dollar value was up more than 100 percent from November.

Building sales typically rise in December as buyers and sellers close deals before the end of the year.