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北美城市患了商铺空置“城市病”

北美城市患了商铺空置“城市病”

Tracey Lindeman 2020-03-12
投机是一种席卷全球房地产市场的现象。大批投资者斥资置业,然后坐视不理,静待房产升值。

在蒙特利尔麦尔安德街区一间老派咖啡馆的后面,没有人盯着笔记本电脑工作,忙碌了一周的人们都在看书、聊天,享受这难得的休闲时光。三位中年男子正在抱怨附近不断上涨的租金,他们中的一位是当地一家历史久远的俱乐部Club Sociald的老板,那里曾经是意大利移民趋之若鹜的聚集地。

“这生意简直没法做了,这么高的房租谁付得起啊!”其中一位大声叫嚷着,另外两位不停地点头。

此时,我正在等我的欧蕾咖啡。说来巧了,我也是出于同一个话题来这里采访苏珊·厄舍的。苏珊·厄舍是当地一位房东,也是社区居民委员会成员。我想问她,本地的房租不断上涨,动辄是当地市场行情的两倍、三倍,甚至四倍,而同时,商铺大面积闲置,地区似乎怎么也走不出过渡状况,甚至呈现出一种绝望的萧瑟景象,这两者之间,到底存在怎样的因果关系?

“难道没有一分钱收入真的比收点房租还好吗?”在周五晚间咖啡馆的喧闹声中,厄舍这样问道。她拥有一栋三层楼房,一楼是零售门面,楼上是两套公寓,其中一套自住。厄舍说,如果连续几个月没有门面租金入账,她根本就撑不下去。

“这些人跟我不一样。”她指的是那些抢购商铺物业,然后让其空置的人,“他们个个财大气粗,二话不说先抢购一栋,往往拒绝跟任何人续租,然后拍拍屁股走人,任由房屋闲置一两年。我真搞不懂为什么他们一点都不在乎。”

“这似乎只能用‘投机’来解释了,”她继续说。“对于这些投机客来说,他们在一个地方蒙受的损失,可以用另一个地方的利润冲销掉。”

投机是一种席卷全球房地产市场的现象。大批投资者斥资置业,然后坐视不理,静待房产升值。许多人携资入市,根本就没打算当房东,他们只想获得增值回报。如果一栋房产没有带来任何租金收入,那也无妨,他们可以在纳税时填上“亏空”一栏进行避税。

不光是麦尔安德街区才有这个问题。2018年,伦敦的空置商铺近2.5万套。纽约的商铺空置率在10%-20%之间波动,是正常水平的两倍多。其他一些城市也在苦苦挣扎。

说句公道话,不是所有的空置店面都与活跃的投机活动有关。比如,一些房产的原业主很早就还清了抵押贷款,他们的继承人现在只是在等着机会出手,卖个好价钱。此外,还有一些房东是真心想出租给优质租户,后者主要是那些实体零售店,他们因为面临着电子商务和当日送达服务的竞争,日子不太好过。

但毫无疑问的是,投机活动正在增长,当其行为纯粹被利润驱动时,它就有可能让整个社区深受其害。

如何玩一场投机金融游戏

有一些投资者试图做正确的事情。

蒙特利尔不动产管理公司Immobilier YULiv拥有16家零售物业,该公司老板阿里和尤瑟夫正在尝试着与优质租户协商合理的租金,尽最大努力避免店面空置。“我们必须尽快租给一些能给街区带来人气的零售店面,哪怕少收点租金也没关系,”阿里说。“对我们来说,租户品质越高,我们就越能够便宜点租给它。”不过,即使想法很好,他们现在有时也很难找到好的租户。

但是,个人和机构炒家正在大举收购物业。这些投资者希望把他们的财富放在比股市获益更多的地方,而房地产业,还有为其提供财力支持的银行,都非常乐意成人之美。

“银行无疑是房地产行业的一大驱动力,因为无论房屋是通过债务还是股权筹资购得,投机商业主都会令房屋价格贬值以进行杠杆操作,”专门研究房地产市场的注册会计师、Marcum LLP合伙人库尔特·科格尔这样说道。他所指的是美国法律。“利用杠杆来投机买房,尤其是在如今的低利率环境下,确实会成倍增加土地所有者的回报。”

科格尔还指出,一些贷款协议规定房屋所有者必须持有一定的流动资产,或一定的负债股权比率,这些旨在保护银行抵押贷款投资的条款,还会间接影响房东愿意接受多少租金。有时候,一些足够有钱,或店面位置超好的投资者,更愿意把租金定得很高,让人望而却步,然后,再耐心等待一家大牌零售商上门,签订一份多年租约。要真能等到这家大牌租户的话,房东就能在短短几个月内赚到从低价租户身上多年才能赚到的租金收入。

无论是在蒙特利尔还是纽约,到底哪些区域最容易受投机热潮的打击,似乎都没有什么规律或理由。格林威治村是纽约市最著名的街区之一,但它也不幸跻身商铺空置率最高的社区之列。

不过,有一些特定的房产,更容易被不怎么在乎价格的实体买下,变成一个高息银行账户。投机客通常喜欢豪华公寓,因为他们可以把这些房屋投到短期租赁市场上,大赚一笔。

但谁会把钱投在实体零售这样一个境况不佳的行业身上,进行投机炒作呢?

城市需要尽快采取措施

纽约市小企业服务专员格雷格·毕晓普表示,投机商看中的临街店面,往往楼上有住宅单元。“单靠住宅租金,很可能就足以支撑起整栋楼的租金收入,因此房东并不急于将楼下的商铺也租出去。”他解释说,“这是最糟糕的情况。”

对一些投资者来说,临街店面或许是一笔可以勾销的损失,但对于整个街道来说,这些店面是社区健康的象征。毕晓普说,餐馆、酒吧和咖啡馆是一个街区的人气担当,客流保障。诸如长椅、植物、灯光、壁画这类公共设施和景观,往往让人流连忘返,反过来又让整个街区充满活力,安全感倍增。人气旺的商家还可以激励附近的其他店面开门迎客。

建筑物哪怕是维护不善,假以时日也会增值。而街道上的财产如果没有人悉心呵护,就会逐渐衰败,各种犯罪行为也更容易找到施展空间。

从蒙特利尔的Club Social俱乐部往西南走两公里不到,你可以看到一栋两层建筑横跨整个街区,上面布满了五颜六色的街头艺术,有些很美,有些则不怎么的。城市事务顾问格伦•卡斯塔海拉指着这栋楼介绍说,那里原来有一家名叫“乔治的车库”的汽车修理店。

“那里原本有一家日用品店,当地人经常光顾,但现在差不多也闲置15到20年了。”这是2月一个寒冷的下午,格伦坐这栋楼街对面的一个温暖的咖啡店里向我解释说。现在,那幢大楼里唯一的租户,一家备受当地人欢迎的黎巴嫩餐厅,也很快就要搬到街对面去了。届时,这座破旧的建筑将彻底空置。格伦说,房东是个寡妇,一心等着孙子成人后把房子传给他。

这些业主,根本不在乎以体面的租金出租房屋,无论他们是对房屋维护不闻不问的恶房东,还是富得流油的投机商,但房屋的结局都一样:店面空空如也。这本来不应该这样。

在蒙特利尔,空置店面现在是一个特别热门的话题。市政府最近召集一个委员会进行公开咨询。截至2019年7月,该市临街店面的平均空置率为15%,一些地区则高达26%。市政府已经采取了一些旨在缓和问题的措施,其中包括对房屋评估价值50万美元以下部分降低房产税,以及给受到街道施工影响的商家提供财政补贴等等。

北美其他城市也正在尝试用自己的方式来解决店面闲置问题。旧金山有一个特有的商铺振兴计划,以及增税等限制店面空置的规定。纽约市正在建立一个空置商铺登记制度,还酝酿征收空置税。在芝加哥,如果业主任由空置房屋衰败,市政府会对其处以重罚,甚至有可能提起公诉。

在格伦看来,政府着手解决空置店面问题时,还必须同时加大扶持力度,做好数据信息服务,为小商铺打造一个生机勃勃的商业环境,否则,只能治标不治本。他说,这种反应跟各国应对全球变暖的方式相差无几:没有人做任何事,直到灾难发生。

“即使现在还没到危机时刻,但至少倒计时已经开始了,我们真的很接近了,”他说,“一旦你越过高租金的某条线,或者某一比例的房产落入到特定房东手中,那就真的很难回头了。”(财富中文网)

译者:任文科

责编:雨晨

在蒙特利尔麦尔安德街区一间老派咖啡馆的后面,没有人盯着笔记本电脑工作,忙碌了一周的人们都在看书、聊天,享受这难得的休闲时光。三位中年男子正在抱怨附近不断上涨的租金,他们中的一位是当地一家历史久远的俱乐部Club Sociald的老板,那里曾经是意大利移民趋之若鹜的聚集地。

“这生意简直没法做了,这么高的房租谁付得起啊!”其中一位大声叫嚷着,另外两位不停地点头。

此时,我正在等我的欧蕾咖啡。说来巧了,我也是出于同一个话题来这里采访苏珊·厄舍的。苏珊·厄舍是当地一位房东,也是社区居民委员会成员。我想问她,本地的房租不断上涨,动辄是当地市场行情的两倍、三倍,甚至四倍,而同时,商铺大面积闲置,地区似乎怎么也走不出过渡状况,甚至呈现出一种绝望的萧瑟景象,这两者之间,到底存在怎样的因果关系?

“难道没有一分钱收入真的比收点房租还好吗?”在周五晚间咖啡馆的喧闹声中,厄舍这样问道。她拥有一栋三层楼房,一楼是零售门面,楼上是两套公寓,其中一套自住。厄舍说,如果连续几个月没有门面租金入账,她根本就撑不下去。

“这些人跟我不一样。”她指的是那些抢购商铺物业,然后让其空置的人,“他们个个财大气粗,二话不说先抢购一栋,往往拒绝跟任何人续租,然后拍拍屁股走人,任由房屋闲置一两年。我真搞不懂为什么他们一点都不在乎。”

“这似乎只能用‘投机’来解释了,”她继续说。“对于这些投机客来说,他们在一个地方蒙受的损失,可以用另一个地方的利润冲销掉。”

投机是一种席卷全球房地产市场的现象。大批投资者斥资置业,然后坐视不理,静待房产升值。许多人携资入市,根本就没打算当房东,他们只想获得增值回报。如果一栋房产没有带来任何租金收入,那也无妨,他们可以在纳税时填上“亏空”一栏进行避税。

不光是麦尔安德街区才有这个问题。2018年,伦敦的空置商铺近2.5万套。纽约的商铺空置率在10%-20%之间波动,是正常水平的两倍多。其他一些城市也在苦苦挣扎。

说句公道话,不是所有的空置店面都与活跃的投机活动有关。比如,一些房产的原业主很早就还清了抵押贷款,他们的继承人现在只是在等着机会出手,卖个好价钱。此外,还有一些房东是真心想出租给优质租户,后者主要是那些实体零售店,他们因为面临着电子商务和当日送达服务的竞争,日子不太好过。

但毫无疑问的是,投机活动正在增长,当其行为纯粹被利润驱动时,它就有可能让整个社区深受其害。

如何玩一场投机金融游戏

有一些投资者试图做正确的事情。

蒙特利尔不动产管理公司Immobilier YULiv拥有16家零售物业,该公司老板阿里和尤瑟夫正在尝试着与优质租户协商合理的租金,尽最大努力避免店面空置。“我们必须尽快租给一些能给街区带来人气的零售店面,哪怕少收点租金也没关系,”阿里说。“对我们来说,租户品质越高,我们就越能够便宜点租给它。”不过,即使想法很好,他们现在有时也很难找到好的租户。

但是,个人和机构炒家正在大举收购物业。这些投资者希望把他们的财富放在比股市获益更多的地方,而房地产业,还有为其提供财力支持的银行,都非常乐意成人之美。

“银行无疑是房地产行业的一大驱动力,因为无论房屋是通过债务还是股权筹资购得,投机商业主都会令房屋价格贬值以进行杠杆操作,”专门研究房地产市场的注册会计师、Marcum LLP合伙人库尔特·科格尔这样说道。他所指的是美国法律。“利用杠杆来投机买房,尤其是在如今的低利率环境下,确实会成倍增加土地所有者的回报。”

科格尔还指出,一些贷款协议规定房屋所有者必须持有一定的流动资产,或一定的负债股权比率,这些旨在保护银行抵押贷款投资的条款,还会间接影响房东愿意接受多少租金。有时候,一些足够有钱,或店面位置超好的投资者,更愿意把租金定得很高,让人望而却步,然后,再耐心等待一家大牌零售商上门,签订一份多年租约。要真能等到这家大牌租户的话,房东就能在短短几个月内赚到从低价租户身上多年才能赚到的租金收入。

无论是在蒙特利尔还是纽约,到底哪些区域最容易受投机热潮的打击,似乎都没有什么规律或理由。格林威治村是纽约市最著名的街区之一,但它也不幸跻身商铺空置率最高的社区之列。

不过,有一些特定的房产,更容易被不怎么在乎价格的实体买下,变成一个高息银行账户。投机客通常喜欢豪华公寓,因为他们可以把这些房屋投到短期租赁市场上,大赚一笔。

但谁会把钱投在实体零售这样一个境况不佳的行业身上,进行投机炒作呢?

城市需要尽快采取措施

纽约市小企业服务专员格雷格·毕晓普表示,投机商看中的临街店面,往往楼上有住宅单元。“单靠住宅租金,很可能就足以支撑起整栋楼的租金收入,因此房东并不急于将楼下的商铺也租出去。”他解释说,“这是最糟糕的情况。”

对一些投资者来说,临街店面或许是一笔可以勾销的损失,但对于整个街道来说,这些店面是社区健康的象征。毕晓普说,餐馆、酒吧和咖啡馆是一个街区的人气担当,客流保障。诸如长椅、植物、灯光、壁画这类公共设施和景观,往往让人流连忘返,反过来又让整个街区充满活力,安全感倍增。人气旺的商家还可以激励附近的其他店面开门迎客。

建筑物哪怕是维护不善,假以时日也会增值。而街道上的财产如果没有人悉心呵护,就会逐渐衰败,各种犯罪行为也更容易找到施展空间。

从蒙特利尔的Club Social俱乐部往西南走两公里不到,你可以看到一栋两层建筑横跨整个街区,上面布满了五颜六色的街头艺术,有些很美,有些则不怎么的。城市事务顾问格伦•卡斯塔海拉指着这栋楼介绍说,那里原来有一家名叫“乔治的车库”的汽车修理店。

“那里原本有一家日用品店,当地人经常光顾,但现在差不多也闲置15到20年了。”这是2月一个寒冷的下午,格伦坐这栋楼街对面的一个温暖的咖啡店里向我解释说。现在,那幢大楼里唯一的租户,一家备受当地人欢迎的黎巴嫩餐厅,也很快就要搬到街对面去了。届时,这座破旧的建筑将彻底空置。格伦说,房东是个寡妇,一心等着孙子成人后把房子传给他。

这些业主,根本不在乎以体面的租金出租房屋,无论他们是对房屋维护不闻不问的恶房东,还是富得流油的投机商,但房屋的结局都一样:店面空空如也。这本来不应该这样。

在蒙特利尔,空置店面现在是一个特别热门的话题。市政府最近召集一个委员会进行公开咨询。截至2019年7月,该市临街店面的平均空置率为15%,一些地区则高达26%。市政府已经采取了一些旨在缓和问题的措施,其中包括对房屋评估价值50万美元以下部分降低房产税,以及给受到街道施工影响的商家提供财政补贴等等。

北美其他城市也正在尝试用自己的方式来解决店面闲置问题。旧金山有一个特有的商铺振兴计划,以及增税等限制店面空置的规定。纽约市正在建立一个空置商铺登记制度,还酝酿征收空置税。在芝加哥,如果业主任由空置房屋衰败,市政府会对其处以重罚,甚至有可能提起公诉。

在格伦看来,政府着手解决空置店面问题时,还必须同时加大扶持力度,做好数据信息服务,为小商铺打造一个生机勃勃的商业环境,否则,只能治标不治本。他说,这种反应跟各国应对全球变暖的方式相差无几:没有人做任何事,直到灾难发生。

“即使现在还没到危机时刻,但至少倒计时已经开始了,我们真的很接近了,”他说,“一旦你越过高租金的某条线,或者某一比例的房产落入到特定房东手中,那就真的很难回头了。”(财富中文网)

译者:任文科

责编:雨晨

Instead of poring over laptops, people in the back of an old-school café in Montreal’s Mile End are reading, chatting, and decompressing from a busy week. Three middle-aged men—including the owner of the storied Club Social, the Saint-Viateur Street haunt that once served as a private hangout for Italian immigrants—gripe about escalating rents in the neighborhood.

“They’re pushing out businesses. No one can afford these rents!” one exclaims, while the others nod.

I eavesdrop while waiting for my café au lait. Coincidentally, I’m here to interview Susan Usher, a local property owner and a member of a neighborhood citizens’ committee, for the very same reason: How rising rents—some double, triple, even quadruple their local market value—are keeping storefronts empty and plunging the area in an ever-evolving state of transition and, at times, even disrepair.

“Why on earth is nothing better than something?” asked Usher over the Friday evening din of the busy café. As the owner of a building with a ground-floor retail space and two apartments above (including her home), she could never survive months without a storefront tenant.

“These are not people like me,” she stated, referring to the ones snapping up business structures to go away them vacant. “These are deep wallet that may take a seat on a assets, that may refuse to renew a rent with any individual, then go away it empty for a 12 months or two years, and for no matter explanation why it doesn’t appear to hassle them.

“That’s when we introduce the word ‘speculative,’” she continued. “A loss in one place is written off [against] a profit in another.”

Speculation is a phenomenon taking over the world’s real estate, in which investors play the market by sinking cash into properties then sitting back and watching as they gain value. Many don’t get into the game to be landlords; they just want the returns. If a building doesn’t earn rental income, there’s always the losses column on their tax forms.

This problem is not unique to Mile End. In 2018, London had nearly 25,000 empty commercial spaces. In New York City neighborhoods, commercial vacancy rates fluctuated between 10%–20%—more than double a healthy rate. Pockets of other cities struggle too.

To be fair, not all empty storefronts are caused by active speculation. Some buildings are owned by the heirs of original buyers who have long since paid the mortgage, and who are now just waiting around for a big payday. Some are owned by well-intentioned landlords looking to find quality tenants at a time when e-commerce and same-day delivery are putting the squeeze on brick-and-mortar retail.

But speculation is growing, and when it’s motivated purely by profits it can poison entire neighborhoods.

Inside the financial game of speculation

There are some investors trying to do the right thing.

As the owners of 16 retail properties, Ali and Yousef Farasat of Montreal’s Immobilier YULiv do their best to skirt the empty storefront problem by negotiating fair rents with quality tenants. “You’ve got to pick some retail stores that are going to bring traffic to the street, and even take less money at times for doing that,” says Ali Farasat. “For us, it’s easier to rent lower, but to a better tenant.” Even with that philosophy, though, there are times when they have a tough time finding good tenants.

But there are growing numbers of properties being scooped up by people and companies looking to park their wealth in a locale more certain to generate generous gains than the stock market. The real estate industry, and the banks that underwrite it, are more than happy to accommodate.

“Banks are definitely a large driver of the real estate industry because the owner of the building gets to depreciate 100% of the purchase price regardless of whether it was raised through debt or equity,” says Kurt Koegl, a CPA focused on real estate and a partner at Marcum LLP, referring to U.S. law. “Levering the building, especially when interest rates are low like they are today, really multiplies the return that landowners get.”

Lending agreements can include covenants that dictate how much in liquid assets an owner will maintain or what the debt-to-equity ratio will be, Koegl continued. These covenants protect the bank’s mortgage investments. They can also indirectly affect how much rent a landlord is willing to accept. Depending on how rich the investor is and where he or she is located, sometimes it’s easier to set the price impossibly high and wait it out for a big-ticket retailer who will lock into a multiyear lease. With that, landlords can make back in just a few months what they would have earned from years with a low-paying tenant.

In Montreal as in New York City, there seems to be little rhyme or reason about which areas get hit hardest by the speculation machine. One of NYC’s most famous neighborhoods, Greenwich Village, has one of the city’s highest commercial vacancy rates.

Rather, when a building is bought by a relatively price-insensitive entity to serve as a high-interest bank account, it seems to be more about the type of property. Speculators usually like luxury condos, which they can flip onto the short-term rental market and make a killing.

But who would speculate on an ailing industry like brick-and-mortar retail?

Cities need to step up—fast

When storefronts are involved, it’s often because there are residential units above, said Gregg Bishop, NYC’s commissioner of small-business services. “It’s quite possible that the residential income is enough to carry the building, so therefore there isn’t that urgency to get the commercial space rented,” he explained. “That’s kind of the worst-case scenario.”

To some investors, storefronts may be a write-off, but to a neighborhood they’re a symbol of community health. Restaurants, bars, and cafés are local anchors, bringing foot traffic to an area, Bishop said. Street furniture and landscaping—benches, plants, lights, murals—keep people around, which improves vibrancy and security. Popular businesses inspire others nearby to open.

But even a poorly maintained building gains value over time. And without someone keeping a close watch on street-level properties, blight and crime can find an easier foothold.

About a mile’s walk southwest from Montreal’s Club Social, a two-story building that spans the entire length of a block is covered in colorful street art—some beautiful, some not so much. Urban affairs consultant Glenn Castanheira points to the building. It used to house a mechanic shop known as George’s Garage.

“A staple that was known in the neighborhood forever has been [mostly] vacant for 15 or 20 years,” he explained on a frigid February afternoon from inside the warm café across the street. The only tenant—a local favorite serving Lebanese food—is moving across the street soon, at which point the dilapidated building will be fully vacant. The widow who owns it will eventually pass it on to her teen grandson when he comes of age, said Castanheira.

Whether those who can’t be bothered to lease at decent rents are slumlords or rich investors, the effect is the same: nothing, when there could be something.

Empty storefronts are a particularly hot topic in Montreal at the moment. The city government recently convened a committee and held public consultations on the matter. As of July 2019, the city had an average ground-floor vacancy rate of 15%, with some areas as high as 26%. The city has implemented some measures to help offset the issue, including lower property taxes for the first $500,000 of assessed value, and a financial assistance program for businesses affected by major street work.

Other cities around North America are trying to address the scourge of empty storefronts in their own ways. San Francisco has a legacy business program and a formula business restriction. New York City is building a vacancy registry and wants a vacancy tax. Chicago heavily fines, and even prosecutes, building owners who let their empty buildings fall into any state of blight.

In Castanheira’s opinion, addressing the issue of empty buildings without building a more supportive, data-informed environment for streetfront small businesses to thrive in will only perpetuate the problem. He compares the reaction to the response to global warming: No one does anything until the house is on fire.

“If it’s not crisis time, it’s T-minus 12. We’re really close,” he said. “Once you cross that line of rents being too high, or an x proportion of properties being in the hands of a certain type of landlord, it's really hard to go back.”

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