Make no mistake, the D/FW metro isn't grinding to a halt, but owners are opting to rethink sale plans for their larger assets until the capital markets calm down. "The overall cost of debt as a result of increased spreads and a lower to lack of liquidity in the conduit market has impacted real estate prices. Assets are worth less today than before this started," Russell Ingrum, executive vice president in Dallas for CB Richard Ellis, tells GlobeSt.com. "There is good leasing activity and rental rates are up. Why take a lower price."

Ingrum says the present sales scenario in Dallas/Fort Worth mirrors many other US metros, with Orange County, CA being far worse off than the Big D. "We're all in the same boat. Houston's a little bit different," he explains, "because its fundamentals may be the best in the country."

The volatile market has caused some retreats on the sales front because pricing expectations were based on rosier conditions preceding the credit crunch. "I know a lot of marketing packages are completed and ready to go," Ingrum says. "And, they're just sitting."

Ingrum says the "lack of predictability" has made buyers and sellers alike "reluctant to pursue aggressively any strategy right now." But, he adds, the bulk of what was on the market did move or is moving forward, save for a couple high-profile office assets, most notably the one-million-sf Chase Tower at 2200 Ross Ave. in the Downtown.

Jack Crews, managing director in Jones Lang Salle's Dallas office, says there's no cause for alarm because 2007 will still end on a profitable note for sellers. "We've slowed down to 120 mph from 195 mph," he says. "We're still on an overall pace to have a very good year."

Crews says Dallas fundamentals are solid, with occupancy and rents both still climbing. He says the slowdown is "a normal course of action any time there's a hiccup or a financial change in the winds."

Market watchers nationwide are placing bets that the Federal Reserve will cut its fund rate tomorrow as a Band-Aid measure for the mortgage credit crunch and financial markets' upheaval. If so, it will be the first such cut since June 2003.

"It's going to slow down," Crews says about Dallas/Fort Worth's near-term future, "but we don't see it going away. It doesn't appear nearly as volatile because the fundamentals are still there. Qualified buyers are still there and we don't have a shortage of capital."