Only a small fraction of small business owners report that credit is their main business concern. Demand for their products is much more problematic. Looking forward, continuing declines in the value of small businesses' real estate assets have the potential to substantially affect the ability of those small businesses to borrow.
Similarly, declines in the value of real estate may affect the ability and willingness of banks and other lenders to supply loans. Indeed, this is likely already occurring to some extent at some banks across the full spectrum of bank sizes.