With the federal government attempting to make efforts to give a new lease of life to commercial lending - through its new $200 billion loan program – the biggest of the commercial real estate developers are seeking their inclusion under the plea that their debts of their $6 trillion industry could increase in the next few years.

The loan program of the federal government has been established primarily to help the market for credit-card debt, car loans, and student loans.

According to Jeff DeBoer, president of the Washington-based Real Estate Roundtable, the help for property developers – a group that includes developers, lenders, owners and management companies - could come through the new federal loan program or through another pool that would offer property owners the option of refinancing mortgages. 

Barclays’ estimates show that in 2009, nearly $270 billion of mortgages on apartment complexes, shopping malls, and office buildings would require refinancing. In its November 17 report, Fitch Ratings said that there is every reason for commercial loan defaults to accelerate because banks and insurance companies would try to manage their balance sheets by restricting lending, and the market for commercial mortgage-backed securities is expected to remain shut.

Talking about the dilemma that the developers face, DeBoer said the fact that they are seeking inclusion in the loan program indicates that they are attempting to alert members of Congress and the general public about a serious problem that is clearly within their sight – a capital-intensive business like real estate would not be able to thrive in times when there appears to be hardly any capital!