Latest CoStar Commercial Repeat-Sale Analysis: Com

WASHINGTON, Oct. 16, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- This month's CoStar Commercial Repeat Sale Indices (CCRSI) provide the market's first look at August 2013 commercial real estate pricing. Based on 1,261 repeat sales in August 2013 and more than 125,000 repeat sales since 1996, the CCRSI offers the broadest measure of commercial real estate repeat sales activity.

August 2013 CCRSI National Results Highlights

• PRICING GROWTH FOR COMMERCIAL PROPERTY SLOWED IN AUGUST AMID ANXIETY OVER FED'S TAPERING OF BOND PURCHASES AND RISE IN INTEREST RATES: The two broadest measures of aggregate pricing for commercial properties within the CCRSI—the value-weighted and the equal-weighted versions of the U.S. Composite Index—saw mixed movements for the month. The equal-weighted index, which reflects the pricing impact of more numerous smaller transactions, edged downward by 1.1% in August, while the value-weighted index, which is influenced by larger transactions, expanded by 1.6% during the same time period. On an annual basis, both indices advanced by nearly 10%. Despite investor reassurance following the Fed's decision in September to delay the tapering of its quantitative easing policies, further economic uncertainty, largely stemming from the U.S. government shutdown and debt ceiling debate, may lead to further volatility in pricing in the near term.
• POSITIVE ABSORPTION IN BOTH INVESTMENT GRADE AND GENERAL COMMERCIAL SEGMENTS SUPPORTS BROAD PRICING RECOVERY: Net absorption of available space across the three major commercial property types – office, retail and warehouse – continues to improve. For the first three quarters of 2013 net absorption among these three property types totaled more than 240 million square feet, the highest level for the first three quarters of a year since 2008. Core CBD office markets, including New York, San Francisco and Houston, and large distribution markets such as Dallas and Chicago, have led absorption in the Investment Grade segment, as reflected by the faster pricing growth in this index since 2009. More recently though, the General Commercial segment has made strong gains in absorption as well, indicating a broader and more sustained commercial real estate recovery. In the office market, for example, nearly 90% of total net absorption over the last year was in suburban submarkets. Pricing in the General Commercial Index rose by 3.7% in the last quarter, compared with growth of 0.1% in the Investment Grade Index.
• TRANSACTION VOLUME REMAINS STEADY: The number of repeat sale transactions through August 2013 increased 15% from the same period one year ago, while the value of those transactions increased 17%. The percentage of commercial property selling at distressed prices remains near a four-and-a-half year low.

Monthly CCRSI Results, Data through August of 2013

Monthly Fundamentals, Data through September of 2013

Several charts accompanying this release are available at http://media.globenewswire.com/cache/9473/file/22619.pdf

About the CoStar Commercial Repeat-Sale Indices

The CoStar Commercial Repeat-Sale Indices (CCRSI) are the most comprehensive and accurate measures of commercial real estate prices in the United States. In addition to the national Composite Index (presented in both equal-weighted and value-weighted versions), national Investment Grade Index and national General Commercial Index, which we report monthly, we report quarterly on 30 sub-indices in the CoStar index family. The sub-indices include breakdowns by property sector (office, industrial, retail, multifamily, hospitality and land), by region of the country (Northeast, South, Midwest, West), by transaction size and quality (general commercial, investment grade), and by market size (composite index of the prime market areas in the country).

The CoStar indices are constructed using a repeat sales methodology, widely considered the most accurate measure of price changes for real estate. This methodology measures the movement in the prices of commercial properties by collecting data on actual transaction prices. When a property is sold more than one time, a sales pair is created. The prices from the first and second sales are then used to calculate price movement for the property. The aggregated price changes from all of the sales pairs are used to create a price index.

More charts accompanying this release are available at http://media.globenewswire.com/cache/9473/file/22620.pdf

CONTACT:

For more information about the CCRSI Indices, including a detailed methodology, fact sheet, legal notices and disclaimer, and an archive of previous releases, please visit http://www.costar.com/ccrsi .

ABOUT COSTAR GROUP, INC.

CoStar Group (Nasdaq: CSGP ) is the primary provider of websites for commercial real estate information, analytics and marketing services. Founded in 1987, CoStar conducts expansive, ongoing research to produce and maintain the largest and most comprehensive database of commercial real estate information. Our suite of online services enables clients to analyze, interpret and gain unmatched insight on commercial property values, market conditions and current availabilities. Through LoopNet, the Company operates the most heavily trafficked commercial real estate marketplace online with more than 7 million registered members. CoStar operates websites that have over 9 million unique monthly visitors in aggregate. Headquartered in Washington, DC, CoStar maintains offices throughout the U.S. and in Europe with a staff of approximately 2,000 worldwide, including the industry's largest professional research organization. For more information, visit www.costar.com .

This news release includes "forward-looking statements" including, without limitation, statements regarding CoStar's expectations, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. These statements are based upon current beliefs and are subject to many risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from these statements. The following factors, among others, could cause or contribute to such differences: the risk that the trends represented or implied by the indices will not continue or produce the results suggested by such trends, including the risk that strong absorption in the investment grade and general commercial market segments does not continue to support broad recovery, the possibility that further economic uncertainty will not lead to further volatility in pricing in the near term, and the risk that there will not be a broader and more sustained commercial real estate recovery; and the risk that investor demand and commercial real estate pricing levels will not continue at the levels or with the trends indicated in this release. More information about potential factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, those stated in CoStar's filings from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including CoStar's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012, and CoStar's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2013, under the heading "Risk Factors" in each of these filings. All forward-looking statements are based on information available to CoStar on the date hereof, and CoStar assumes no obligation to update such statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Mark Klionsky Senior Vice President-Marketing (800) 681-1513