MIAMI-Given the volume of distressed commercial real estate and the loans collateralized by these properties, one might think that the auction business would really be taking off. But that may not be the case for a variety of reasons.

For one, although there is still hope by investors that a flood of troubled assets will soon be coming to market, thus far, many lenders have not forced owners into foreclosure, choosing instead to “pretend and extend,” thus keeping prices for those assets which have been foreclosed on at higher levels than they might otherwise be.

Howard Michaels, chairman of the Carlton Exchange, says that typically his firm does $5 billion to $6 billion in transactions per year through its auctions. But the volume for the first half of 2010 was just over $1 billion in loans and REOs.