Saving the happy face for 2010: Commercial property pros pessimistic in survey

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Commercial-property values haven’t hit bottom yet, according to industry professionals who responded with growing pessimism in a survey released today.

Exactly 53% of real estate brokers, investors and owners surveyed by online listing service LoopNet expect prices for commercial properties such as office buildings and warehouses to fall another 11% or more. Landlords, not surprisingly, were the most optimistic about values, with 20% saying that prices already have bottomed out.

But in contrast to a similar survey of more than 1,000 professionals three months ago, there was a sharp increase in the number of respondents who thought sales wouldn’t pick up again until 2011. Nearly one in five expect to wait until 2012. Still, about 50% expect to see a rebound start in 2010.

The biggest barriers to the recovery of the commercial real estate investment market are the lack of financing from lenders and unrealistically high asking prices on the part of sellers, respondents said.

-- Roger Vincent