CHICAGO-Uncertainty about the economy, combined with sluggishjob growth and the upcoming general election have made investorswary about where to park their monies. According to locally basedReach Estate Research Corp.'s Q2 2012 Real EstateReport entitled "Challenges Mount, Flight to Safety," institutionalinvestors consider some types of commercial realestate to be a safer place to park money than even cash,though CRE confidence did decline slightly from the previousquarter.

On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 representing the most confidenceamong those surveyed), investors rated commercial real estate at6.8, which was down slightly from 6.9 at the beginning of 2012.Other investment types such as stocks were rated at 5.2; bonds wererated at 3.5 and cash at 3.9. Furthermore, while currentavailability of capital was ranked at 7.1 (a slight increase fromthe previous quarter), capital discipline was at 6.4 (a slightdecrease from the previous quarter).

In surveying institutional investors, RERC found thatrespondents expect the U.S. economy to weaken over the next year.There is good reason for this concern, with GDP growth increasingonly 1.5% during Q2 2012, representing a slowdown from the previousquarter. Additionally, the respondents expressed concern about howthe upcoming fiscal cliff with sequestered tax increases andfunding cuts, coupled with slowing growth in Europe, will impactthe U.S. economy. Not helping the situation is the FederalReserve Open Market Committee's assertion that things aren't goingto get a whole lot better in the near- to mid-term.