The Loan Committee™

Returns on equity REITs far outpaced gains seen in the broader market during the first quarter of 2014, and analysts expect solid fundamentals to continue to support the sector. Read entire article… Author. Sarah Borchersen-Keto. Source. Reit.com News.

STONEGATE BANK took its first step toward moving its stock to the NASDAQ exchange.  The Pompano Beach-based bank (OTCBB: SGBK) filed a Form 10 registration statement with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to become a regularly reporting company. Read entire article… Author: Brian Bandell.  Source.  South Florida Business Journal.

In 2013, US equities seemed to be the only story of interest to investors. This year however, U.S. stocks have struggled to break into positive territory, and real-estate investment trusts (REITs) are off to a fast start.  Read entire article… Author:  Gregg S. Fisher.  Source:  Barron’s.

It can be lonely out there for a Bitcoin aficionado, especially for a banker.  Ask Alan Lane. In October, the president and CEO of Silvergate Bank in La Jolla, Calif., was up in Sacramento for a roundtable convened by the California Bankers Association and the state’s Department of Business Oversight. Reading a laundry list of about a dozen issues on the department’s radar, Commissioner Jan Lynn Owen mentioned Bitcoin — the Internet currency, payment system and technology that’s been grabbing headlines, igniting controversy and inspiring innovation across the globe. Lane pricked up his ears, in part because the $616 million-asset Silvergate had been in discussions about banking a Bitcoin startup.

“I raised my hand and I said, ‘Is anybody else talking with any potential Bitcoin customers?’ There were a lot of blank stares around the room,” Lane recalls. “A lot of the bankers hadn’t heard of it. … One guy, I don’t remember who it was, said, ‘I think they ought to outlaw it.'”Lane’s reply:  “Well, if they outlaw it, I’m going to lose about $1,200 because I just bought 10 bitcoin.” Later, he says, another banker friend teased him, “Uh oh, Alan, you shouldn’t have said that. You just put a target on yourself with the regulators.”  Read entire article…. Author:  Marc Hochstein.  Source:  American Banker.

Stonegate Bank grew its assets over 51 percent after completing its acquisition of Florida Shores Bancorp.Florida Shores Bancorp had two subsidiaries that Stonegate Bank picked up: Florida Shores Bank – Southeast in Broward and Palm Beach counties, and Florida Shores Bank – Southwest in Lee, Sarasota and Charlotte counties. read entire article… Author: Brian Bandell.  Source:  South Florida Business Journal.

While there are many encouraging signs of recovery in the commercial real estate market ranging from rising property values to increasing mortgage originations, investors should be aware that there is also a great deal of CRE debt set to reach maturity in the next several years.  Read entire article… Author:  Mark Richardson.  Source:  GlobeSt.com.

The U.S. manufacturing sector expanded at its fastest pace in 2½ years last month, an industry report showed on Monday, while the pace of hiring in the sector also accelerated. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said its index of national factory activity rose to 57.3 in November—its best showing since April 2011—from 56.4 the prior month. view entire article and video… Source: Reuters / CNBC

MIAMI—Cranes are again rising over this city, as the poster child for the real-estate collapse enjoys a new condominium boom fueled by foreign investors looking to park their money in U.S. real estate.  read entire article… Authors:  Arian Campo-Flores and Conor Dougherty.  Source:  The Wall Street Journal.