Shares in several local real estate firms and investment trusts dropped Tuesday after the world’s largest real estate broker was downgraded by Standard & Poor’s because of concerns over rate increases for commercial real estate financing.

Shares in El Segundo-based CB Richard Ellis Group lost $3 per share, or 9.7 percent, Tuesday after Standard & Poor’s analyst Robert McMillan downgraded the stock to a “hold” from a “buy” rating, saying that higher rates for commercial real estate financing could “hurt a sizeable part” of the company’s business.

Merrill Lynch & Co. analyst Steve Sakwa also dropped his ratings on a handful of the nation’s largest industrial developers, brokers and real estate investment trusts, including Glendale-based Public Storage Inc., which lost which lost 1.4 percent Tuesday and closed at $69.60.

Sakwa said in a report that “return expectations for real-estate assets could begin to widen over the next 6 to 12 months as investors demand higher returns as compensation for the higher level of risk.”

Shares in Pasadena-based Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc. also dropped $5.21, or 5.5 percent, Tuesday to $89 shares have lost 22 percent since February.

Health Care Property Investors Inc. saw shares dip as well, though not as much. Shares in the Long Beach-based company lost 53 cents, or 2 percent, Tuesday to $26.30 as did Glendale-based PS Business Parks Inc., which lost 2.8 percent to $51.90.

The local firms weren’t alone Tuesday, the S & P; 500 Real Estate Index dropped 3.8 percent, the biggest loser among all of the index’s 24 industry groups.