With the election less than two weeks away, the questionof which candidate will better serve the interests of thecommercial real estate industry is foremost on people’s minds. Ifelected officials’ choices while in office were consonant withtheir positions and proposals on the campaign trail, the questionmight have an easy answer. In practice, presidents revert to themean. The general fragmentation of authority in Washington meansthat the most extreme proposals – for better or worse – are moreeasily propounded than passed into law.

Congress’ failure to address the imminent fiscal cliff until thelame duck session speaks to the basic disconnect between Americanbusiness and Capitol Hill. For many industries, await-and-see approach to investment and hiring is the order of theday. The costs of waiting until after the election and adecision on taxes can seem small as compared to the potential costof making the wrong bet today.

An agreement on personal income tax rates does not necessarilygo hand-in-hand with an agreement on other taxes. For investorsseeking to cash out before a threatened rise in the capital gainsrate, time is running short. One thing working to their advantage,the availability of financing has been improving across a largernumber of markets. Our team’s tracking of both acquisition andrefinance loans shows an uptick in the first weeks of the fourthquarter. Volume is up; borrowing costs are down.