Revenue Improving, but recovery is slow.

• Author: Ladd, Scott
• Position: REAL ESTATE - Brief article

Commercial real estate executives expect to see improvements in revenue and headcount next year, but the majority of those who responded to a survey by KPMG predict a full economic recovery is years away. The study also found that senior industry leaders also believe that distressed real estate will remain a key industry issue.

Among other key findings of commercial real estate executives:

* 64 percent said their company's current revenue exceeds last year;

* 75 percent anticipate that their revenue will be higher a year from now;

* 53 percent plan to add personnel in the next year; that compares to 13 percent seeing a decrease. However, they are not predicting that hiring will significantly pick up anytime soon;

* 27 percent said they don't expect a full restoration to pre-recession numbers until the end of 2013, 17 percent projected 2014 or later and 11 percent believe it would never return to pre-recession levels;

* 57 percent do not expect a full economic recovery until the end of 2013 or later.

"Although real estate executives see things moving in the right direction, they believe it's going to be some time before they see evidence to support higher levels of...