With green legislation on the horizon, a Dec 2, 2008 article written by Matt Hudgins for the National Real Estate Investor caught my eye. Slower returns on investment and serious credit shortages are challenges for both developers and multi-family housing property owners, especially those hoping to effect energy-efficient property upgrades this year. Along with conventional commercial real estate projects, green development has suffered from the credit crunch.

With lenders not interested in discussing new loan applications since early November of last year, funding for projects had nearly disappeared. That said, Ezra Green, Chairman and CEO of Clear Skies Solar, believes the high cost of capital that has accompanied the credit crunch will ease in 2009. Green’s company, based in Long Island, NY, designs and installs solar photovoltaic systems. He says the Federal Reserve’s dual half-point rate cuts, which pushed the overnight Fed funds rate down from 2% to 1% in October, are helping to control borrowing rates.

On a brighter note, some of Green’s developer clients and their lenders have resumed efforts to arrange funding for sustainable projects. “The lenders are coming back to the table, getting their pens and paperwork back on their desks,” he says. “So the money is starting to loosen up.” Let’s hope he’s right!

To read more, go to http://nreionline.com/brokernews/greenbuildingnews/news/green_building_recession_1202/?smte=wr

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