When Real Estate Research Corporation (RERC), Deloitte, and the National Association of REALTORS (NAR) began making plans to publish Expectations & Market Realities in Real Estate 2012, the already sluggish economy was starting to slow. The ups and downs in the stock market were becoming more pronounced as QE2 wound down, and this volatility further increased as we witnessed the inability of politicians to deal with the nation۪s fiscal difficulties. Finally, the market nearly collapsed as the credit rating of the U.S. was downgraded from its AAA status, and investorsafraid the economy was about to fall into another recessionretreated to the relative stability that investments like commercial real estate could offer.

As 2012 gets underway, uncertainty remains. The sovereign debt crisis has expanded beyond Greece and Portugal to Italy and Spain, and the risk that the financial crisis in Europe will evolve into a global recession remains. As a result, the relative safety of commercial real estate investment may be even more attractive as investors look for "New Foundations in an Uncertain World."