Fed Time is Coming, Says C&W's McCarthy

NEW YORK CITY—In an allusion to HBO’s Game of Thrones, with its tagline “winter is coming,” Cushman & Wakefield’s Ken McCarthy says that “Fed Time is coming.” The expression “Fed Time,” which dates from an earlier, more secretive era of the Federal Reserve, doesn’t refer to a prison sentence, but to the Fed’s daily announcement of its trading activity.

At the moment, the industry is waiting on a farther-reaching communication from the Fed than its purchases or sales for a given day. “Commercial real estate is facing the first interest increase in nearly a decade,” writes McCarthy, senior managing director and chief economist at C&W. The six-year span since the Fed last changed its interest rate policy is the longest in its history.