Deteriorating credit and lack of liquidity in the commercial real estate market poses a threat not only to the industry but also to the economy as a whole. The federal government has introduced several emergency programs aimed at facilitating a market recovery in this sector along with others. The Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF) is intended to help break the logjam in the CMBS market by providing Federal Reserve financing to buy AAA securities backed by commercial mortgage loans. The Treasury’s Public-Private Investment Program (PPIP) is designed to help banks shore up their balance sheets by selling both securities and loans to funds that have some degree of Treasury and FDIC support.

While these programs have been slow to gain traction, they have produced some positive developments. Howard Altarescu, partner in Orrick’s New York City office and co-author of “The Troubled Asset Relief Program: An Overview,” spoke with Rachel Speirs, edi