JLL Report Shows 93% Transaction Drop

CHICAGO-Jones Lang LaSalle’s US Mid-Year Capital Markets Bulletin reflects a 90% transaction drop in the first half of 2009 from the market’s peak. Transaction activity plunged to just $16 billion in the first half of 2009, down 80% as compared to nearly $80 million during that same period last year. The first half of 2009 was down 93% from the $231 billion seen in that period in 2007, when the market peaked.

The report also looks forward to the second half of the year with a prediction that REIT capital raises and Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility participation could be the first signs of liquidity’s return to the markets in the coming months. However, credit is still tight and liquidity sparse, and markets won’t recover until banks begin to lend again, according to Steve Collins, managing director of JLL’s International Capital Group.

“A significant trend we’re focused on is the lack of credit and how that’s affecting the whole market,” Collins tells GlobeSt.com. “Banks are in a practice of delay and pray. We have money coming due and until banks start to lend again, it’s going to be a hard time.”