The headquarters of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Photo Courtesy of Fox-orian / CC BY-SA 3.0

The Federal Reserve’s latest installment of its Beige Book is out, the first since the coronavirus hit America in force, and it reports participants in the residential and commercial real estate industries expressed serious concerns about the health of their respective industries.

“Commentary on Current Economic Conditions by Federal Reserve District,” popularly known as the “Beige Book” after the color of its hard copy cover, is published eight times a year and compiles anecdotal information on the nation’s regional economies through reports from officials at the system’s regional banks and with key business leaders, economists and market experts.

The Boston Fed’s contribution to the book includes a warning that commercial real estate industry “[c]ontacts on balance were cautious and observant, but all expressed significant concerns about the near-term outlook for commercial real estate activity in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The fed reports a “near-total freeze in new office leasing activity, collapse of some sales in progress, growing disturbances in credit markets, and steep declines in construction activity.” E-commerce tenants, however, went on the hunt for new space in response to the outbreak, increasing demand for industrial product.

The bank’s contacts from Rhode Island all the way to Maine all noted that “inventory levels have been ‘desperately’ low” and said they expect housing market activity will “pause” throughout the pandemic-related economic slowdown.