CRE breaks death spiral. Prices of investment-grade commercial real estate rose 4.4% in Q3, according to the MIT CRE's transaction-based index, possibly signaling an end to the sector's year-long downward spiral. "One quarter does not a trend make and we are still well below normal trading volume," David Geltner, director of research at MIT/CRE, said. "Nevertheless, this is the strongest sign of a bottom that we've had in two years." The positive news comes in stark contrast to gloomy remarks from the Fed's John Greenlee, who said Monday (.pdf) that regional banks building up "unprecedented concentrations of CRE loans" will suffer the impact of worsening conditions in real estate markets, and warned, "Poor loan quality, subpar earnings, and uncertainty about future conditions raise questions about capital adequacy for some institutions." - from Seeking Alpha