The excesses that led to a bust in the housing market haven’t spread to the commercial real estate market, where the outlook is cautious but decidedly upbeat, reported the Associated Press.

There are some signs of slowing growth, analysts say, but nothing compared to the downturn in the residential real estate market, where foreclosures and mortgage defaults are still rising rapidly, mainly from subprime mortgages extended to risky borrowers.

Most economists forecast further declines in home sales and prices, making it “the most significant current risk to our economy,” Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said last week.

Led by strong growth in the office and retail segments, commercial property sales hit $401 billion through Oct. 18, outpacing last year’s $359 billion total, according to Real Capital Analytics, a New York-based real estate research firm.

Construction spending on office buildings, shopping centers and other private nonresidential projects jumped 15.2 percent in August, the Commerce Department said last month.

The commercial market has not been dragged down by the residential mortgage mess because for the most part, buyers and sellers are more sophisticated, and they have more financial flexibility and resources to ride out credit-market turmoil, experts said.

That doesn’t mean the market would be unaffected if economic growth stalls.

“As home prices continue to fall, people feel poor and spend less,” and that puts pressure on the profits that fuel corporate spending, said William Wheaton, research director at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Center for Real Estate. He puts 50-50 odds on a mild recession in the United States. within the next six months.

Economic data due out soon is likely to show that September was one of the slowest months in several years for all areas of commercial real estate – from apartment buildings to retail properties, according to Real Capital Analytics.

If the broader economy stumbles, the commercial real estate market would be vulnerable to “credit-risk contagion,” Wheaton said. Already, the credit crunch that started in home mortgages has spread to other markets, including the commercial market, with some sellers asking for more capital upfront when mortgage-backed assets are financing a transaction.