REIT stocks bear out the assessment of Jeffrey Barclay, managing director of ING Clarion Partners: "It looks like it will be very serious for a long time." Barclay and other institutional investment experts brought together for an hour-long GlobeSt.com webinar saw no quick and easy path through the market challenges and pain that lie ahead. "There really is no shortcut," said Charles Leitner, global head of RREEF.

However, the pathway through those challenges will eventually lead to somewhere, the panelists agreed. Look for deal velocity to gradually increase along with the pressure to transact, albeit at lower pricing than the industry saw two or three years ago. "We're going to get to a value proposition fairly soon," predicted Barclay. "Why? Because we have to."

Titled "Capital Markets Symposium: More Pain, Little Gain," the Jan. 12 webcast was moderated by Steve Pumper, executive managing director of investment services at Transwestern, and Michael Desiato, vice president of Incisive Media's real estate group. It was presented by Transwestern and Real Estate Forum, sister organization to GlobeSt.com.

[IMGCAP(2)]Although assets will start hitting the market, thus helping to establish some sort of pricing mechanism by the second half of the year, there will continue to be hurdles. Tom Garbutt, global head of real estate at TIAA-CREF, pointed to the ongoing lack of credit and a bid/ask gap which is far from being closed.