Commercial real estate developers, brokers and lenders want to know which direction the economy is headed, because when it slows, businesses curb hiring, which affects the demand for office and industrial properties.
“The 2007 commercial real estate market was a little slower than previous years, and the outlook is a little tenuous for 2008,” said Cole Schnorf, president of the Maryland chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties. “In general the creation of jobs is very important to our industry.”
Schnorf said the subprime lending situation that has affected the U.S. residential market has “blown over into the commercial industry and the whole lending community.”
“It?s really impacted the financing of projects,” Schnorf said.
NAIOP?s Maryland chapter on Tuesday night held its 2008 Market Update event with about 200 chapter members and a panel of local real estate and investment industry experts. The event was planned to provide members with industry and economic information for the new year.
“There?s still funding out there for good, solid construction,” said Barbara Simmons, market director for M&T Bank. She planned to address the association on how banks were handling the current economic downtown and their relation to the commercial market.
“If there?s any message to people in the commercial real estate industry, it?s that you?ve got to stick with your long-term relationships and be patient,” Simmons said.
The Baltimore metro area?s office market absorbed 781,000 square feet in 2007, a 67 percent decrease from the year before, according to a report by Colliers Pinkard, a commercial real estate firm with offices in Baltimore.
The region absorbed about 2.4 million square feet of industrial space in 2007, an increase of more than 650,000 square feet in 2006, according to a report by CB Richard Ellis, a commercial real estate services firm with offices in Baltimore.
NAIOP?s Maryland chapter has about 300 members and provides them opportunities to get involved in educational, networking, legislative and community service activities.
