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.

Barclay

And fundamentals may get worse before they start to improve. With some forecasts predicting that unemployment nationwide could exceed 9%, Barclay warned that funds and other property owners must be prepared for NOI to go down across the board.

Even so, Blackrock managing director Peter McNally said that funds that haven't boosted their liquidity by selling assets—regardless of pricing declines—may be in a bad situation later on. "Come next fall, if you haven't sold anything, you're going to have some explaining to do," he said.