Pulse of the market: faint, but still alive

Pulse of the market: faint, but still alive

The latest pulse of the commercial real estate market from LoopNet is much like the market itself: Not too good.

San Francisco-based LoopNet, a publicly traded online industry portal, bills its quarterly survey of 1,500 investors, brokers and owners as the largest in the industry. In the most recent survey, commissioned in December, a majority of the respondents said an industry recovery would not take place in 2010.

Specifically, 35% said they think the market will come back in 2011, while 20% said it wouldn't happen until 2012.

On obstacles to deals, the leader was no surprise: Nearly half, 49%, of survey respondents said financing is the toughest aspect to overcome in getting a deal done. In second place, with 25%, was too high of an asking price. That was followed by insufficient equity capital among buyers, which was reported by 18% of the respondents.

The asking price response was a little bit of a surprise to Coffee Talk, but it reflects what brokers are saying -- many commercial property owners still have not adjusted to the reality of the market.