If the recession was a commercial property for sale the deal would have closed some time ago. A recent Yahoo News article says that the National Bureau of Economic Research—a group of economists who declare when recessions officially start and end—maintain that the recession ended in June 2009. Although many are still hurting from the recession, it’s important to note the small signs of recovery and remain optimistic of the future.
A lot of people in real estate find it difficult to believe that the recession is ending. The news is filled with tragic stories of people facing long term unemployment and the rising number of residential properties in foreclosure. It’s clear that people are suffering and the effects of the recession will be with us for quite some time.
Nevertheless, it’s important for us to note the small signs of economic recovery and have confidence that things are improving. For example, my last blog post noted how student housing continues to thrive in commercial real estate. In addition, improving lending conditions are an encouraging sign for commercial real estate and small business. The common denominator in these trends is that there are signs that confidence in commercial real estate is improving.
Recognizing small accomplishments tends to have a snowball effect on the big picture. At the end of the day, recessions and recoveries are all about confidence. For a recovery to gain steam, confidence has to build and build to the point that ultimately jobs are created and people are put back to work. That in turn causes consumer spending to increase further which leads to…well you get the picture.
Perhaps the news that the recession is officially over will result in more confidence. It should and I believe it will. But our government needs to do its part to help insure that businesses, especially small businesses, are incented to hire and not punished for being successful. Job creation is a good thing and it is important to all of us and our economy.
The commercial real estate market will certainly benefit from people having more faith in the economy and the industry will, as always, create its share of new jobs. Right now, we should all acknowledge and reflect on the small accomplishments that we are achieving. That will lead to bigger and better things happening for everyone who is connected to the economy.
