by Calculated Risk on 12/04/2007 04:26:00 PM

Jon Lansner at the O.C. Register reports: Outlook dimmer for commercial real estate in 2008, forecast says

The boom that boosted commercial real estate ... is expected to slow in 2008 in the face of a slowing economy and a credit crunch ... according to the 29th annual forecast by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Urban Land Institute.
...
A panel of local industry leaders noted that values for commercial properties in Orange County will decline next year from 3% to 15%, depending on the type and quality of the building. The panel provided the following outlooks for Orange County’s office, apartment, retail and housing markets:
...
William Flaherty, senior vice president for marketing, Maguire Properties Inc. on the office market: The outlook for the O.C. office market is cloudy, while a year or two ago it was incredibly bright. Today vacancies are under 10%, but they are expected to go up due to the collapse of many subprime lenders based here (New Century was a tenant of Maguire’s until it went bankrupt) and to new construction. Flaherty added that the global credit crunch has crunched demand and prices for office buildings, which had quickly traded hands at the start of 2007. “It’s clear that the world’s changed on Aug. 2 with the credit crunch,” he said.

They could have just read this blog earlier this year!