Be Kind, '09! A National Commercial Real Estate PerspectiveOh, it's ugly out there for commercial real estate and its investors. The Times' Vivian Marino ran down the national picture over the weekend, including this dismal dis·mal adj. 1. Causing gloom or depression; dreary: dismal weather; took a dismal view of the economy. 2. statistical gem gem, ornamental mineral or organic substance gem, commonly, a mineral or organic substance, cut and polished and used as an ornament. Gems also are used as seals (items of assurance) and as talismans (good-luck charms). For birthstones, see month. about '08 investment sales nationwide: From January through December, there were just 1,410 transactions nationwide, valued at $49.3 billion, versus 4,410, valued at $207.2 billion, for the corresponding period in 2007, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the latest data from Real Capital Analytics, a research company. It predicted that sales would total $53 billion to $55 billion for all of 2008, further below a recently reduced forecast of $61 billion. At the same time, demand for offices has softened soft·en v. soft·ened, soft·en·ing, soft·ens v.tr. 1. To make soft or softer. 2. To undermine or reduce the strength, morale, or resistance of. 3. as companies have cut back or consolidated operations; many of them are already subleasing space that they no longer need. Office vacancies nationwide rose to around 13.5 percent by mid-December from about 12.5 percent, on average, in 2007, according to Reis Inc., another research company. Part of the fallout fallout, minute particles of radioactive material produced by nuclear explosions (see atomic bomb; hydrogen bomb; Chernobyl) or by discharge from nuclear-power or atomic installations and scattered throughout the earth's atmosphere by winds and convection currents. from ebbing demand, of course, is falling rents: Ms. Marino notes that in Manhattan, "rents are expected to plunge 10 to 20 percent by 2010, and nationally by 5 to 15 percent, according to Cushman & Wakefield..." And REITs? It's tough for them as well (including local ones), with little improvement expected in 2009. 
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