Sacramento-area banks face stiff test in 2009 (The Sacramento Bee)

The Sacramento region's banks so far appear to be weathering the national recession. But they will be tested this year as defaults shift from residential real estate, which hit big banks worst, to the commercial real estate and small-business sectors – where many local banks are heavily committed. "I think most banks are going to see some deterioration in that piece of their portfolio in ...

Report: Tough commercial real estate market will linger (BizJournals)

Grubb & Ellis Co. on Monday released its 2009 global forecast that predicts a troublesome year for commercial real estate in the U.S., including Greater Sacramento.

Home Front: Sacramento-area real estate market befuddled the experts (The Sacramento Bee)

So begins a new year in the Sacramento real estate market, remarkably making its case as the fourth straight year of a downturn. A slump that began with nervous whispers in the summer of 2005 has escalated into a prolonged economic crisis that promises to define 2009. Home Front spent time in the electronic library this week, looking at how experts misjudged the extent of this decline as ...

Commercial real estate (BizJournals)

Two years ago, the biggest problem for the commercial real estate industry was the construction cost for new buildings. For 2009, the problem might be no new buildings.

Report says foreclosures, defaults up in 2008 (San Francisco Chronicle)

The number of scheduled foreclosure sales and defaults in core areas of Northern and Southern California exceeded a half million during 2008, up 132 percent from the previous year, according to a report by Default Research Inc. Notices of defaults (the first...