Good Credit is Hard to Find

The Real Estate Roundtable has reported that the credit difficulties have made it harder for companies such as hotels and shopping centers to do business.

By: John Noble 

According to many senior real estate executives, the credit crunch of the last year has made it much more difficult to get credit extended. Credit has become less accessible, according to 84 percent of those surveyed, than it was in 2007.

The Real Estate Roundtable has reported that the credit difficulties have made it harder for companies such as hotels and shopping centers to do business. However, in a survey of real estate executives, nearly two-thirds of them said that they expected credit conditions to improve within twelve months. They're keeping their hopes realistic, however, and comparatively few are willing to say that credit conditions will get “much better”.

Over half of the real estate executives surveyed believe that conditions will improve, while only 13 percent anticipate “somewhat higher” asset values by the third-quarter of 2009, While no one is willing to commit to expecting a complete turnaround for the better, over 40 percent of those surveyed expect that asset values will continue to drop and be “somewhat lower” in 2009.

These surveys were released by the Real Estate Roundtable, a partnership of high ranking real estate executives from both public and privately-held corporations. They gather, and discuss the major issues facing the real estate community .They try to determine what factors will affect not just the real estate market, but the financial markets as a whole.