icon on As the federal government shutdown stretches into its second month, commercial real estate professionals are sounding the alarm over its growing impact on the industry. With key agencies operating on skeleton crews or completely furloughed, critical processes such as loan approvals, permitting, and contract execution have come to a standstill. This has led to stalled transactions, frozen SBA loans, and mounting uncertainty for developers and investors. The situation is particularly dire for property owners leasing to federal tenants, who face unpaid rents and the risk of loan defaults. David Edelblute notes, “Almost every government agency I’ve dealt with is on a skeleton crew or completely furloughed. SBA loans are being frozen because they can’t be processed. It’s likely that you’re stuck or on a several-week or month delay.” He adds that landlords affected by HUD rental assistance cuts are left with few options: “They can’t evict, they can’t raise rents. They just went through this like in Covid. What recourse do they have?” As the shutdown drags on, the ripple effects continue to spread across the sector, threatening both short-term operations and long-term development plans.
This summary is based on the article "CRE Leaders Warn of Stalled Deals, Unpaid Rents as Shutdown Drags On" by Erik Sherman with GlobeSt., published on November 3, 2025.