Foreclosed Mall

Have you noticed the commercial centers near you growing a little quieter lately?  If so, you’re not alone.  Commercial real estate nationwide has taken a beating that has many experts fearing the worse.  Vacancy rates have soared while rents have hit rock bottom. And many property owners are struggling to avoid foreclosure . Some have even filed for bankruptcy.  According to the report Emerging Trends in Real Estate, which was released to Reuters, the commercial real estate market is looking at its darkest days in 2010.

The article said:

“Commercial real estate values will fall 40 percent, on average, from their peaks in mid-2007, and up to 50 percent in some sectors, according to the 2010 edition of Emerging Trends in Real Estate…It will be the worst commercial real estate decline since the Great Depression, eclipsing the 1990s savings-and-loan crisis, according to the report.”

Retail and office commercial real estate will be hit hardest as job losses continue and consumers grow more cautious.  For those commercial real estate investors who bought at the top of the boom, foreclosure and even bankruptcy is likely. A matter of fact we may even see a foreclosure crisis in the commercial real estate sector that mirrors or even dwarfs the residential foreclosure crisis.