In a provocative post called “The Judith Miller Effect”, Deal Junkie wonders if the commercial real estate industry has been pushing for excessively negative articles–such as this one in the New York Times–as groups lobby for the industry’s eligibility for the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility.

If this is the case, it would be a huge shift for the commercial real estate sector. In my experience, retail real estate types are always accentuating the positive. There has been a rash of very negative articles of late. (Take a look at some of the things I’ve posted here in the past couple of weeks.) Is it posturing? Or is this because things have legitimately taken a turn for the worse? I’m not a big fan of conspiracy theories at all. Given everything we at Retail Traffic have seen in the data and from what we’ve heard in conversations with industry types, things are definitely tough out there. The most optimistic hope that things turn before the end of 2009. But most folks are mentally preparing to ride this out and rebound in 2010. This is what we detailed in The Lost Year, which we published before we became aware of any lobbying efforts by the industry for a bailout.

Previous bailout posts:

• Dec. 30, 2008, The Push for the Bailout Continues
• Dec. 29, 2008, Two More Looks at the Developer Bailout
• Dec. 23, 2008, Retailers Want a Bailout Too
• Dec. 23, 2008, REIT Wrecks on the Proposed Bailout
• Dec. 22, 2008, Example of Owner Walking Away
• Dec. 22, 2008, Commercial Real Estate Groups Ask for a Bailout

Related Topics: Commentary, Finance, News, Retail Real Estate, Trends |