NEW YORK (Reuters) - GE Real Estate, one of the largest global real estate investors, like hotels and plans to lend hotel borrowers about $2 billion this year, up from $500 million a year ago, the head of its North American Lending division said on Tuesday.
"We like the fundamentals of hotels," Alec Burger, senior vice president of North American Lending, said at the Reuters Real Estate Summit in New York.
"The fact it costs me $900 for a room in New York now means it's a pretty good time to be a lender," he said.
GE Real Estate, the real estate arm of General Electric Co. (GE.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), has about $60 billion invested globally in real estate. In North America, it has an equity ownership of about $14 billion, controlling $18 billion worth of real estate. On the lending side, the company has about $17.5 billion of total investment lending in the United States and Canada and loans about $12 billion yearly.
"I think it's been a great run for hotels over the last three or four years," Burger said. "We're very comfortable to continue to be a lender in this sector."
As a real estate lender, GE typically focuses on three- or four-star hotels.
"It's based on supply-demand," Burger said. "There's just a hell of a lot more demand for three- or four-star hotels. We've stayed away historically from the luxury end."
As far as hotel ownership, GE Real Estate is not a big player, said Joseph Parsons, president of GE Real Estate North American Equity.
"I think we may have missed that opportunity," he said referring to the period after the September 11, 2001, attacks when hotels took a severe hit as travel dried up.
"I think three to four years ago was a great idea to be an investor in hotels," Parsons said. "We weren't prepared at the time. The real recovery cycle has played through."
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