The growth of GE Capital Real Estate's debt business would not have been possible without the effort of its national sales team, which spans some 60 professionals in 10 offices. Ed Coco, Atlanta-based senior managing director and national sales leader for GE Real Estate's North America division, oversees their activities. Having started his industry career in the early 1990s, doing RTC workouts, the executive has been through his share of market cycles. Here, Coco shares his take on how GE Capital Real Estate shifted its strategy to operate in the current market, while remaining a strong global and regional player.

The commercial real estate and finance markets have changed over the past few years. What have been the most significant shifts, and what do you expect to see in the next few years?

Many events, including the market dislocation, causedsignificant changes in real estate and finance. Overall, investmentactivity is improving but still 50% off the $500 billion seen in2007, and it's focused on core properties in prime markets wherevalues rebounded 65%. We've seen the competitive landscape shift,with foreign banks exiting and many domestic banks merging or goingbankrupt, opening opportunities for lenders like us. We're alsoseeing a shift away from prime markets into regional markets thatshow strong job growth. We favor lending in this environment, wherespreads are elevated, default rates are low, and values areincreasing in most markets.