Ever since the financial crisis hit, the US authorities have been playing whack-a-mole, smacking down problems as fast as possible. Many critters have retreated into their holes, at least partially, but other talpids are proving tougher foes. In particular, looming problems in commercial real estate, with more than $2,000bn of debt maturing by 2013, need a stronger beating.

Goldman Sachs is soon expected to sell the first offering of commercial mortgage-backed securities eligible for loans under the term asset-backed securities loan facility – $400m, on behalf of Developers Diversified Realty. After five months with no newly issued CMBS under Talf, this would be progress. But the struggle to get the deal done has increased uncertainty over what is eligible under Talf, in what are complicated deals to assemble.