Understanding the many market reports that are sent out

Many of my clients receive market reports from various sources. Each report seems to be just a little different then the other one and it can create some confusion when looking at the information.

One example, I was reading the May 2008 Western Real Estate Business periodical and there were some market statistics providing a snapshot of Phoenix MSA. When looking at such reports, before you really look at the numbers, you should make sure you read the footnotes of what they count or do not count for their market statistics. In those footnotes explains the real message in the report.

The challenge with CRE is not everyone in the business uses the same terms the same way and their is no perfect way of measuring CRE. CRE is not something that can be "day traded" like stock. CRE is site specific.

A couple of good examples:
rentable square feet (RSF) vs. useable square feet (USF) vs. gross leasable area (GLA)
NNN vs Absolute NNN vs MG vs IG vs Gross vs Full Service

Regarding some of the big brokerage firms report, they are only going to report on the properties that they target for leasing/sale/management assignments. The information is good, statistically speaking, but it generally will only capture approx. 80% of the market.

If you solely rely on a third party reporting company (such as RERC or Costar), they typically can only report on what has happened. This is really good information but you still need a qualified commercial broker to take that information and apply it to your submarket or specific property.