The latest news from the ‘Emerging Trends in European Real Estate 2008’ report by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Urban Land Institute also supports the above information – in the report they cite Eastern European nations such as Bulgaria as good bets for office and retail commercial property throughout 2008 – and above all other forms of property investment, they fall heavily in favour of commercial property investment in 2008 rather than residential.

The Russians seem to be in agreement with the findings of the report, they have just committed to a thirty million dollar real estate spend in Golden Sands. The money is being internationally financed and the company behind the venture is Etalon-Len-Spets SMU who have previously only constructed and invested in Russia. This is being seen as a real confidence booster to the Bulgarian property market seeing as Etalon-Len-Spets SMU are using the nation as the initial platform for their proposed international expansion plans.

At the Balkan Property Exhibition (Balpex) it’s believed a whole series of commercial projects will be unveiled in Bulgaria. The exhibition is taking place at the Inter Expo Centre in Sofia, and among those projects being unveiled are eight mall developments proving the findings of the ‘Emerging Trends in European Real Estate 2008’ report that retail is the main area for potential success from commercial property in Eastern Europe this coming year.

Now we have reports that the Congressional Oversight Panel is warning that a wave of defaults on commercial real estate loans next year could see US banks losing $300 million. According to the report, about $1.4 trillion in commercial real estate loans will reach the end of their term between 2010 and 2014. It says commercial property values have fallen more than 40% since the start of 2007 and more than half the borrowers are “under water”, meaning they owe more on the property than what it’s worth with the collapse in prices.

This will affect more than 3000 small and mid-sized banks.

The thing that riles me the most about this report is that Treasury secretary Tim Geithner came out this week saying on the Department’s web site that the cost of the bailout is falling and that the work is more is or less done. “A year later, the actions we took, alongside the Recovery Act, have worked to restore economic growth and financial stability,” Geithner says. “Access to credit is improving and the cost of borrowing for businesses, consumers, homeowners, and state and local governments have fallen sharply.”