The case for pessimism might now be spreading to Wall Street after its recent flirtation with the 10,000 highlands, since the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 104.22 points, or 1.05 percent, on Monday, ending well below 9,900. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were also off, 1.17 percent and 0.59 percent respectively.

The Washington, D.C., office market may have reached a turning point in demand as the region experienced improved fundamentals last quarter—figures propelled by expanded demand for government office space. And if deals like the recent $73 million sale of an office building in Falls Church, Va., are any indication, buyers are taking interest in the area’s strong demographics..

Major commercial real estate lender Capmark Financial Group Inc. and various subsidiaries have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which last month the company had warned was coming. The move will allow the Capmark to reorganize and, very likely, delay selling off some of its $20 billion-plus in assets at less-than-desirable prices.

The green movement in commercial real estate has caught on like wildfire and even with the recession having left most clutching their pocketbooks, it continues to spread. Now Columbia, Md.-based Enterprise Community Investment Inc. plans to take the trend to new heights with the kicking off its $4 billion Green Communities initiative, which is designed to propel the greening of affordable housing development across the country.

It’s almost like the good old days of 2007 when loans over $100 million for commercial real estate practically rained from the sky. Undeniably, those times have not returned, but news that Brooks Shopping Center L.L.C., owner of the 1 million square-foot Cross County Shopping Center in Yonkers, N.Y., has gotten its hands on a $135 million first mortgage to finance the property’s redevelopment certainly brings back good memories.

In testimony reminiscent of dogs getting credit-card applications approved back during the mid-2000s credit bubble, a Treasury Department inspector told Congress that kids as young as four years old have been able to receive $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credits. “Some key controls were missing to prevent an individual from erroneously or fraudulently claiming the credit,” J. Russell George told the House Ways and Means Committee’s oversight panel on Thursday.

Investors in U.S. REITs and other U.S. property companies should consider investing in publicly traded REITs and property companies abroad. Within developed markets globally, the aggregate equity market capitalization of this sector totals $600-plus billion, two thirds of which are outside of the United States. My team and I continue to identify very compelling investment opportunities in international markets and encourage investors to consider “going global” as part of their real estate allocations.

With the recession having taken a chunk out of consumers’ pocketbooks around the world, the retail real estate market has been struggling for quite some time, and the situation is no different in Germany. However, the discount retail sub-sector is thriving in the country, and Dallas-based commercial real estate firm Behringer Harvard has positioned itself to capitalize on related development opportunities with the recent formation of Behringer Harvard German Retail, a joint venture with Hanover, Germany-based real estate investment and management company Rahlfs Immobilien GmbH.

In most sports, coaches use specialists to deal with pressure situations. In football, for example, they will bring in a slash-type runner on offense to cross the goal line or a pass rusher on defense to sack the quarterback. These specialists have specific skills and in many cases prove to be the difference between victory and defeat. For those in real estate, and particularly with Stan Johnson Co., specialization is the maxim for those that want to succeed in these trying times and get deals closed, no matter what the size or complexity.

The Federal Reserve’s most recent Summary of Commentary on Current Economic Conditions,better known as the Beige Book, wasn’t exactly cheerful about the stateof the U.S. economy toward the end of annus horribilis 2009. But itwasn’t precisely pessimistic either.