MBA Feels Market Crunch, Sells Headquarters

MBA Feels Market Crunch, Sells Headquarters
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) has sold its 10-story headquarters for $41.3 million, below the $79 million the trade group says it paid for the property in 2007.

The MBA, which was underwater on its loan, refused to discuss its situation. A spokesperson for the MBA said the organization has reached “an agreement with all relevant parties.”

CoStar Inc., a commercial real estate information firm, which purchased the property, says it plans to move its headquarters into the building.
"It's a little bit of irony that in the middle of the mortgage crisis brought on by the bad lending practices of many members of the Mortgage Bankers Association that they got caught up in the same problem," Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a liberal research group, told The Washington Post.

As the real estate market crashed, the association's membership has continued to fall. Its membership fell to 2,500 from 3,000 in 2008, officials had said.

The company was “fortunate to be able to take advantage of what we see as a historic opportunity to secure an exceptional asset at a greatly reduced price,” Andrew Florance, CoStar’s CEO, said in a statement.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, James R. Hagerty (02/06/2010) and The Washington Post, V. Dion Haynes (02/05/10)