Beyond Stimulus Spending, Policies That May Affect CRE

While much of the commercial real estate industry’s interest in government policy has centered on TALF and PPIP, recently announced regulatory reform may warrant greater attention.

“The debate on what happens to the banks, with accounting reform and regulation, will affect commercial real estate in one way or another,” said Priya Dayananda, director of federal government affairs for KPMG, at the company’s conference on public policy, held today in Manhattan.

Since President Barack Obama unveiled the latest piece of his banking reform plan last week, everyone in the financial community has been clamoring to determine how they will be affected. The proposal, crafted by former chairman of the Federal Reserve Paul Volcker, would partly revive the Depression-era Glass-Steagall Act, reining in the size of banks and their risky behavior.