WASHINGTON, DC-There are so many ramifications for the failure of Congress to reach agreement on a debt deal it is difficult to know where to begin. Continued gridlock and political animosity is a given for another year, leading up to the presidential election. Ditto a lack of leadership from Congress on the country’s economic problems. Many key tax issues will be left hanging, such as the payroll tax break that President Barack Obama had wanted to see extended for at least another year. Without an agreement from Congress, that is poised to expire at year’s end.

All of this matters a great deal for the commercial real estate industry. If there is one thing the industry detests it is uncertainty, says Dennis Russo, co-chair of the commercial real estate practice at Herrick, Feinstein.

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“Good news--and to an even greater extent, certainty--is what drives the commercial real estate lending, development, sales-investment and leasing markets,” Russo tells GlobeSt.com. “The issues of whether the Bush-era tax cuts are good for the economy and good for real estate are subjective and open to question and debate. But the failure of the so-called super committee to reach a consensus is objectively bad for the economy and the various commercial real estate markets.”

Russo says that the psyches of the nation, the economy and the various markets tend to react viscerally to good news, bad news, stagnancy and gridlock. “Unfortunately,” he adds, “given the stagnation and gridlock--and resulting uncertainty of what the landscape will look like--that is probably what will happen here.”

The specter of “no plan” will have a depressing effect on both equity and debt investment in commercial real estate, says Brant Bryan, a founding leader of Cresa Partner’s Capital Markets.

“It postpones the ability for people to make decisions,” Bryan says. “People fear that if they make a commitment and are seeking to lock down financing which takes 45-90 days, they could be stuck. Investors are flexible and creative. If they know the ground rules, they can figure out how to make money and invest.”

Indecision with the users of commercial real estate is also a byproduct, he continues. “Right now, corporations don’t know the tax policies and other government guidelines, so they won’t hire, create plans, or make investments. It slows down decision-making and thus, reduces demand.”

One silver lining to the certainty issue is that the US already got hit with a downgrade, Jeffrey Rogers, president and COO of Integra Realty Resources, says--and additional downgrades will not have much of an impact because the risks brought out by the first major downgrade are already priced into the market. In the bigger picture, he says, “investors, commercial real estate or otherwise, are reacting to actual events which will have long-term ramifications such as the Greek bailout, GDP growth, movement in unemployment rates and interest rates.” In short, he says, how Europe handles Greece and Spain and Italy will be tantamount to what happens in the US.

For the DC area, the impact of the failure of the super committee to reach consensus will be equally as tangible, says Scott Homa, vice president of Mid-Atlantic Research at Jones Lang LaSalle.

“As the GSA refocuses its efforts on creating operational efficiencies and cutting costs, tenants closely tied to the activities of the federal government are expected to remain on the sidelines or retrench as they await more clarity in regard to their budgets and business outlooks,” he says. “Renewals and consolidations are expected to remain prevalent, as tenants focus on conserving capital. Without clear guidance on agency budgets--and an uncertain future in terms of government leadership--tenants across the region are likely to maintain their ‘wait-and-see’ approach to real estate decisions heading into November 2012 and potentially beyond.”