by Calculated Risk on 9/12/2007 05:40:00 PM

From Law.com: Real Estate Deals Are Feeling the Credit Pinch (hat tip Vader)

The sudden queasiness of lenders has cast a pall over the once-robust real estate market in the last six weeks, [Stephen Cowan, a DLA Piper real estate partner] and other lawyers report. Deals have been interrupted mid-stride. Some have been re-jiggered and others have just died.
...
The up-and-down nature of the real estate practice is nothing new. What is new, lawyers say, is the quickness with which this dip descended.

"I've been through cycles in the '70s, '80s and '90s -- this was a very sudden change," said DLA's Cowan. "It caught everyone off guard -- even though everyone was saying, 'It's coming, it's coming.' It was like an earthquake."

The landscape has shifted. The CRE slump is here.