Real estate investors keen to avoid the "schmuck" label worry about buying too early in a slumping market. In an industry prone to booms and busts, that fear - mixed with the credit squeeze - is keeping US commercial property activity subdued. However, a few large assets have traded hands in New York, and a modest pace of deals will continue as certain cash-strapped sellers put properties on the block.

Some investors are partnering with private equity firms to buy trophy properties. Carlyle Group recently helped Ashkenazy Acquisition buy a key Manhattan building for $680m. But foreign buyers remain muted in spite of the weak dollar, and many investors in New York are waiting for pricing cues from Harry Macklowe, who is selling the General Motors building to repay debt. Mr Macklowe may have trouble pulling in $3bn for the property (where elevators are not working properly), given the softer market and his well-known financial difficulties. Buyers' caution is playing out elsewhere in the US, in markets in which commercial property looks downright rosy compared with the shattered residential sector.