BALTIMORE – Last night’s meeting of the Md. chapter of the commercial real estate development association showed a debt level of $566 billion for commercial real estate, much of which comes due in 2011 and 2012 and is held by community banks.  Values for office space have further room to fall, and in Maryland the ratio of loans to total capital is well above the national average.  The feds are aware and are looking into how to help, but 285 banks (nationwide) are still expected to fail this year, which will encompass $120 billion of commercial real estate loans.

From left to right: Moderator Jim Lighthizer of Chesapeake Real Estate Group, Rob Carpenter of The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Tom Dwyer of CW Capital, Spencer Levy of CB Richard Ellis, and Shawn Krantz of Brownstone Capital.