Survey: Crunch Eclipses S&L Crisis in Impact

The current credit crisis has eclipsed the savings-and-loan crisis of the late 1980s as the most consequential event for the U.S. real estate industry in the past 20 years, according to a survey by DLA Piper, an international law firm. The firm said 90% of the 424 top commercial real estate executives who responded to the survey described their 12-month outlook for the U.S. CRE market as "bearish," up sharply from 68% in October 2007. "On the heels of the Lehman bankruptcy, the unprecedented government bailouts of Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and AIG, and the historic proposal of a $700 billion financial institutions bailout plan, we remain in a very fluid situation in the capital markets that likely will continue to bog down the U.S. commercial real estate market until financing finally becomes available on a predictable basis again," said Jay Epstien, chair of DLA Piper's U.S. real estate practice. DLA Piper can be found online at http://www.dlapiper.com.