Which Sector Is Getting Hit Hardest?

This week's Quick Poll shows many people think retail isthe industry being hit hardest by the sluggish economy, with 51%respondents selecting that sector. Both office and multifamily werethe next popular choices, each garnering 21% of the votes, followedby industrial with 6% of the votes.Jim Kruse, a senior managingdirector working out of CB Richard Ellis' Beverly Hills offfice,differs with the poll populous.

Our investment business in the office sector has gotten kickedin the head. There are three groups in the office sector right now:Number one, the group that has put properties on the market andthat have not gotten the offers they wanted so they pulled theirproperties off; number two, are the people who put properties onmarket at yesterday's prices, like June of 2007 pricing. And theyjust have failed to really embrace to today's pricing, failed torecognize that pricing, and so those properties languish on themarket. Third, there's the segment where transactions are gettingdone. Where people are finding the cracks in the market and fillingin those cracks. They're looking in West Los Angeles, where thereare not a lot of huge blocks of space available, but they findopportunities where they can assemble parcels. Or they're lookingat office buildings that might have a significant rollover.