In fact, the number represents the lowest transaction volume since the second quarter of 2004, according to the Northbrook, IL-based company, which has been compiling data on the net lease marketplace since late 2003.

What's more, the decline during 2008 compounds what was already a large decline at the end of 2007. "I think everyone expected the number of deals getting done to be pretty low," Jeff Rothbart, Boulder principal and research director, tells GlobeSt.com. "Q4 '07 was not a pretty quarter either. But the deals closed in that quarter was down 73% from the previous quarter." Large declines two years in a row, he adds: "That's a big number."

The paucity of debt is in large part to blame for the steep decline in closed deals, says Boulder. "It is Boulder's position that the debt terms and lack of available financing have had a greater impact on the slowdown rather than asset pricing," its Q4 Net Lease Market Report states.