Commercial Real Estate Mending, But Still Vulnerable to Ongoing Economic, Political Risks, Roundtable Survey Shows via MarketWatch

Without Stronger Job Creation, More Stable Policies from Washington, CRE Markets Likely to Bump Along at Low Level, Especially in Non-Gateway Areas

Commercial real estate executives participating in The Real Estate Roundtable's latest quarterly Sentiment Survey generally said market conditions have improved since a year ago, but signaled a lack of confidence in the outlook for the coming year, citing global economic risks, Washington's ability to deal with looming budget and tax issues, ongoing Euro zone turmoil, and the vast amount of commercial mortgages maturing this year and beyond.

"Although more respondents in our Q2 survey see current conditions, asset values and capital availability as being better than a year ago, anecdotal responses continue to show a high level of uncertainty about economic conditions here and abroad, as well as tremendous concern about the array of policy issues awaiting action or clarification by U.S. policymakers," said Roundtable President and CEO Jeffrey DeBoer. "Add to that growing concern over borrowers' ability to refinance vast amounts of maturing commercial mortgage debt, and it's no surprise that expectations for the year ahead are relatively flat," he added.

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