Jeff Ostrowski
Alexandra Clough
Home > Real Time > Archives > 2008 > October > 17 > Entry
NAI economist: Economy frozen by minefield effect
Peter Linneman, chief economist at commercial real estate firm NAI Global, calls it the minefield effect. A year ago, consumers, employers and lenders thought they were on a pleasant walk through the woods. Then a sudden explosion, and no one’s moving.
Now, Linneman says, “We’re staring at our feet instead of looking ahead.”
No one’s buying, lending, hiring or investing. Instead, they’re frozen.
Linneman gave his economic outlook during a webcast this afternoon. (OK, the minefield thing is a clumsy analogy, but give Linneman a break — his PhD. is in economics, not creative writing.)
At any rate, Linneman sees a deep recession over the next two years followed by a convincing recovery.
And for all his talk of the minefield effect, Linneman told listeners to do what everyone else is doing — namely look out for mines.
“Construction is just dead, dead, dead,” he says. “If you’re a developer and you think you have a great site, mothball it.”
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