There’s still some time left for companies to fill out and be listed in our annual Top Developers Survey. We’ve begun to produce an annual list showing what firms have under construction broken out by what’s opening in the next 12 months and also by what total development portfolios are worth.

It’s an online survey. But I also have a PDF if you prefer that route. You simply need to email me and I’ll be sure to send it to you to fax back.

The listing run with a research piece that we’re also working on. In last year’s research survey we found, unsurprisingly, that many firms were focusing on mixed-use development.

Also available are last year’s developer listings.

Faced with a down market earlier this year, REITs began authorizing billions of dollars’ worth of stock repurchases from shareholders. Approximately 50 REITs, including high-profile companies such as Simon Property Group (NYSE: SPG) had authorized buybacks by the end of August, according to REIT analysts at BMO Capital Markets who have been tracking this year’s repurchase activity. Firms announced north of $1 billion in authorized incremental repurchases during the latter half of 2007’s second quarter alone. At the end of August, outstanding buyback authorizations stood at 2.2 percent of REIT equity market capitalization.

Repurchase programs aren’t just a passing fad, according to BMO analyst Paul Adornato. “So long as the economics of buybacks work, we will likely continue to see buyback activity,” Adornato says. “The correction in REIT stock prices has created an opportunity for many REITs to repurchase their stock so that it is accretive to earnings.”

However, even though shareholders have generally reacted favorably to such programs, it’s not certain that buybacks are a wise move for every REIT navigating the ebbs and flows of the market.

Full story at NAREIT.

We’ll be putting a story on our home page later today about this, but for now, check this run-down of REIT third quarter earnings so far.

The initial quarterly results from real-estate investment trusts have been decent so far this earnings season, but REIT stocks are still languishing in negative territory, in danger of trailing the broad market after seven straight years of outperformance.

Aside from the latest batch of financial results, REIT-oriented investors will be keeping a close eye on the Federal Reserve’s looking decision on interest rates. The volatile REIT sector got a lift in mid-September, when the Fed cut rates by a surprisingly large half a percentage point, but has traded lower through much of October.

Still, the commercial real-estate market has held up relatively better than the residential side, which has been further weakened by exposure to the subprime-mortgage mess.

Through Monday’s close, the Dow Jones Wilshire REIT ETF (RWR) , an exchange- traded fund tracking the REIT sector, was off 6.5% for the year to date, trailing the S&P 500 Index (SPX) by more than 16 percentage points, according to Morningstar Inc. data.

Macerich Co.’s SanTan Village opened last week rounding out a busy few weeks for regional mall REITs as Taubman Centers opened the Mall at Partridge Creek and General Growth Properties opened the Shops at Fallen Timbers.

SanTan has largely gotten rave reviews, including from dog owners, but some people aren’t happy about the center’s Victoria’s Secret displays.

A second group of landlords who lease space to Movie Gallery Inc. have objected to the company’s plan for conducting going-out-of-business sales, saying the plan doesn’t adequately protect their interests.

On Wednesday, about a dozen landlords who lease space to the movie rental chain at 113 locations asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Richmond, Va., to modify the plan with their suggestions or throw it out.

Last week, the court approved Movie Gallery’s plan to close 520 of its more than 4,000 stores as a way to cut costs during its bankruptcy reorganization. Movie Gallery, based in Dothan, Ala., plans to sell the leases to the stores at a Nov. 15 auction.

Full story.

Department-store operator Macy’s Inc. on Friday said it agreed to be the exclusive department-store retailer for Tommy Hilfiger U.S.A. men’s and women’s sportswear in the U.S., beginning in fall 2008.

Financial terms were not disclosed. Under the deal, Macy’s will expand Hilfiger merchandise in every Macy’s division and on macys.com. That means that within the next 10 months or so Tommy Hilfiger sportswear will no longer be distributed in stores like Bon-Ton Stores Inc. and Dillard’s Inc.

The deal is the latest in a slew of exclusive agreements between store chains and designers as a way to differentiate themselves in a fiercely competitive environment. But the Macy’s-Tommy Hilfiger partnership is different from others because of the designer’s immense popularity in the marketplace.

Full story.

Housing stocks have fallen again — and this time the department store stocks have marched down with them.

Since April, when investors voiced optimism that the housing slide had been contained, shares of the country’s biggest department store chains have fallen by about 30 percent.

With the sagging prices, investors have rendered a harsh judgment on the coming holiday shopping season, predicting that consumers will severely cut back on spending.

The gloom since April 20 has been spread evenly across the big chains: shares of J. C. Penney are down 33 percent, Macy’s by 27 percent, Kohl’s by 28 percent and Sears by 28 percent.

More at the NY Times.

Brothers Melvin and Herbert Simon stepped down Thursday as co-chairs of Simon Property Group, ending their more than four-decade-long active tenure at the Indianapolis mall development company they founded.

Although the two are into their golden years — Melvin is 81 and Herbert 73 — the announcement came as something of a surprise. They have remained closely involved with their company, although they turned over the daily running of the publicly traded real estate investment trust to Melvin’s son David 12 years ago, when he was named chief executive officer.
David now will take on the title of chairman as well, the company said. His father and uncle were named co-chairs emeritus, an honorary title.

More here.

At this juncture, economists say the troubles in the mortgage market could, all told, cost financial firms and investors up to $400 billion.

That is far more than the roughly $240 billion cost, adjusted for inflation, of the savings and loan crisis of the early 1990s, according to estimates of the combined financial toll of that crisis on both the federal government and private sector. The loss in total real estate wealth is expected to range from $2 trillion to $4 trillion, depending on how far home prices fall, according to several economists.

That would be significantly less than the losses suffered by investors in the stock market collapse earlier this decade, which erased more than $7 trillion, or about 40 percent, of market value.

At the New York Times

(Via The Dirt Lawyer’s Blog)

I don’t know why anyone would want to teach a six- year old about commercial mortgage backed securities (CMBS), but this is how I would do it. This is INCREDIBLY simplified. For this example, our six year old will be named Lucy.

First, let’s go to the grocery store. Have Lucy grab a basket. We’re headed for the produce section. Let’s grab a banana, an apple, an orange, and a tomato and put each in the basket. Good job Lucy! Quickly pay for the items and head home.

Now the fun begins.

For the full journey, check Jordan Crouch’s blog.