Sell versus lease stalls DeSoto Police Jury land deals (The Shreveport Times)
Police jurors had agreed to sell land at the west industrial park for $6,000 an acre. The verbal agreements were moving forward until District Attorney Don Burkett advised the Police Jury in December that it must first get an appraisal, advertise the land for sale and have a public hearing to allow comments.

Birmingham Economic Forecast: Commercial Real Estate (BizJournals)
Nonexistent credit for companies and mounting job losses will make 2009 a tough year for the commercial real estate industry, experts say.

Commercial properties face bursting bubble (Moldova.org)
Rising vacancy rates in U.S. office buildings are pointing to a possibility that a commercial real estate bubble could burst, industry observes said.Vacancy rates have reached 10 percent and are rising quickly in major U.S. cities, The New York Times reported Monday.The Real Estate Roundtable, a lobbying group in Washington, has asked Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr. to include commercial ...

Vacancies in office buildings rise faster (Seattle Times)
Every major city in the U.S. is seeing office-building vacancies top 10 percent, creating another big problem for already hurting lenders.

SHARE PRICES END FIRMER, CI UP THREE PCT - 2 (Bernama via Yahoo! Malaysia News)
Dealers said tension between Israel and Palestine has resulted in higher crude oil prices, which have also caused crude palm oil prices to shoot up.