I’m writing about the San Francisco Bay Area real estate market but you could probably insert any city name.  I’m asked often these days, “What is really happening in the commercial real estate markets?” There’s certainly been a lot of news coverage on the macro level so I thought I’d offer up some specific anecdotes and try to piece it together with some conversations I had this week.

Institutional Landlord: “We do not anticipate signing any new leases through the end of the year.”

Top Broker: “Business is dead.  We’re trying to renew deals that are 18 months out.”

REIT: “If you’re a sizable credit tenant we’d give you just about anything you ask for.  And, if you’ve invested in our fund you’re probably not very happy with us.”

Tech Company: “We just cut our staff in half, froze capital spending and preserving cash.”

Broker: “I heard Myspace and Microsoft are both in the market for significant expansion space.”

Angel Investor: “Due diligence on investment deals is taking twice as long.”

Large Developer: “2009 looks a lot worse than 2008.  And we’re flat lining now. It will be a great year to buy on the cheap.”

So what does this all mean?  Well capitalized landlords and developers will take advantage of a down market in which tenants with credit and good visibility will dictate the leasing terms.