Housing Contageon Infects Commercial Real Estate

Commercial real estate loans for the 3rd quarter have fallen 4% year over year, and 30% from the second quarter.

The decrease in commercial/multifamily lending activity during the third quarter was driven by decreases in originations for most property types. When compared to the third quarter of 2006, the overall decrease included a 31 percent decrease in loans for office properties, a 20 percent decrease in loans for retail properties, an 18 percent decrease in loans for hotel properties, an 8 percent decrease in loans for industrial properties, as well as a 149 percent increase in loans for health care properties and a 14 percent increase in loans for multifamily properties.

So the things that increased were our tremendously inefficient health care system, and apartments for people who are no longer buying homes.