Research firm Boxwood Means Inc. has launched a new subscription-based Web site, SmallBalance.com, which the company says features wholly new data and analytics on the U.S. small-cap real estate market.
The new site features data from VALPRO, an automated valuation model for small commercial properties, and Mercury Reports, which provide subject-related rent and sales information supplemented by road maps and birds eye imagery. Both report types include national coverage and are instantly accessible as PDF files by subscribers, Boxwoods Means says.
A number of banks recently subscribed during the Web site's earlier soft-launch phase, the company adds. Randy Fuchs, principal and co-founder of Boxwood Means, notes that the small-cap market has unique characteristics, and that the asset class tracks the performance of residential housing more closely than it does the larger commercial real estate property market. In turn, SmallBalance.com targets a very specific niche.
"Drawing on mainstream CRE market data to assess the small commercial property market is like using the Dow Jones Industrial Average to benchmark performance of a small-cap mutual fund," Fuchs says. "In short, our tools bring the small-cap real estate market into sharper focus for clients."
The small commercial property market of office, industrial and retail buildings under 50,000 square feet includes an estimated 16 million properties. Small-cap properties comprise the bulk of CRE loan collateral in the portfolios of national, regional and community banks, among other lending institutions.
SOURCE: Boxwood Means
