Syndicators Given Credit for Comeback

For an endangered species--or so they were declared last year when the tax reform bill was being debated--real estate syndications have made a remarkable comeback.

Speaking at a meeting of the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors, real estate authority Stan Ross attributes this recovery to the passage of the tax act: “At least the marketplace has a tax act and can function again within guidelines and ground rules.”

Ross, co-managing partner of Kenneth Leventhal & Co., Century City-based accounting and consulting firm, said that public syndications will probably exceed $12 billion in 1987, almost double the $6.3 billion of 1986. Private deals will reach $3.3 billion this year, down slightly from the $3.5 billion in 1986.

One change this year is that most syndications have a strong focus on yield or cash flow as opposed to tax shelters, he said.