Commercial Real Estate, Rent Reduction, and what it all means

Kudos for Mish for reporting on that office space is down 50% in value, retail vacancy is at 7.5%, and industrial space is at its lowest demand in decades.
Ritholtz has the story on the shadow inventory in housing
But the story of the day belongs to the subject of rent reduction free for all.

Last month, commercial real estate research firm Reis Inc. reported that the steepest rent declines since 2002 occurred at shopping malls between April and the end of June. The threat of vacancies was to blame.

Joe Coradino, who oversees retail leasing for Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust, said last week that "everybody who could was asking for rent relief. It was a free-for-all."

PREIT, which owns Cherry Hill, Willow Grove Park, and other malls, even formed a "lease modification review committee" to handle the influx, Coradino told me yesterday. Requests have finally slowed down, though.