by Yesterday, I posted that commercial property prices are still increasing. Of course that does not mean there are many properties selling at these prices. As the Boston Business Journal reported, commercial real estate sales have ground to a halt in downtown Boston:
The city saw $57.3 million in office-building sales during the three-month period, compared to $4.3 billion a year ago. Total commercial sales — which included offices, retail, apartments, industrial and hotel properties — fell 97 percent to $152.6 million during the quarter, compared to $5.2 billion in the same period in 2007, according to figures from Real Capital Analytics, a real estate research firm in New York.
Sellers are sitting on the sidelines waiting for the debt markets to get back to some normalcy. Buyers are still thirsting for deals, but can’t line up the debt to get the deals done. If the debt markets do not come back soon and sellers get tired of waiting, then prices will start dropping .
