The rate of decline for commercial real estate valuations isslowing across the country, says Integra Realty Resources in itsfourth-quarter Commercial Property Index Jeffrey Rogers, presidentand COO of Integra, says the deceleration has happened sooner thansome experts had assumed.

The reason is that, "We had such a steep drop to begin with,"says Rogers. "From peak to trough, we're off about 42%. You're notgoing to fall to zero, there's going to be some base level in linewhere the economy is right now, and we just see it levelingout."

Even with that rapid descent, says Rogers, "we are projectingfurther declines into next year, and the reason is that we have notseen demand come back yet." One factor behind that, he says, isthat "we have too much of everything. We overbuilt during thisrun-up, and it will take some time to absorb all of that." Integraprojects that valuations will continue easing downward until theend of the second quarter in 2010, with a 5% decline over the nextsix months, compared to the 11 % to 17% drops seen this year.