Industry experts expected store sales to affect the retailsector, and found their predictions were correct by year-end. "Thewrap-up to 2008 was as advertised," Tony Cerniglia, vice presidentof retail services with CB Richard Ellis in Atlanta, tellsGlobeSt.com. A steady barrage of bad news on the credit front andfrom retailers will make the market outcome no surprise, he says.Research reports on the retail sector have not yet beenreleased.

"Atlanta, in relation to the rest of the country, has faredbetter than most," Cerniglia says. "We still enjoy demographicsthat are increasing, including a growing population." However, a"tremendous amount of new retail added this year has greatlyweakened the market, bringing rental rates down as much as 30% incomparison to last year." On a positive note, many new projectsexpected to come online after 2008 have been halted or abandoned,which should create a more healthy environment for 2009.

The industrial market experienced a negative overall absorptionof 1.3 million square feet--the first time that number has gonedown in many years, says Wit Truitt, senior vice president withCBRE. Cushman and Wakefield reports that the region has seen anaverage absorption of 14 million square feet every year since 2004,making 2008 the lowest level of yearly absorption since 2003. "Thatshows how difficult 2008 has been," says Truitt.