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Commercial construction has hit a brick wall. Why?

Mar 13, 2024
Factors like high interest rates, tight credit and workers continuing to work from home are all hitting commercial construction demand.
Factors like high interest rates, tight credit and continued remote work are all hitting commercial construction demand.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

How worried should we be about regional banks and commercial real estate?

A report from Moody’s Analytics finds there's trouble ahead, but it's more nuanced than a banking collapse due to empty offices.
New York Community Bancorp is only the latest regional bank to raise concerns about ties to commercial real estate.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Vacant office buildings create a tax revenue problem for cities

Feb 16, 2024
Take Boston. Over the next five years, that city could face a tax revenue shortfall to the tune of $1.2 to $1.5 billion, according to a new study from the Boston Policy Institute.
Over the next five years, Boston could face a tax revenue shortfall of up to $1.5 billion.
Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images

Foreign investors are cooling on U.S. commercial real estate

Feb 9, 2024
Some of the drop is due to high interest rates and economic problems back home. Office buildings continue a slow burn, one expert says.
The height of foreign purchases of U.S. real estate was in 2017.
Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images

New York Community Bank's woes could signal trouble for other regional banks

Feb 7, 2024
A significant portion of NYCB's $252 million in losses last quarter came from losses on commercial real estate loans--a revenue source for other regional banks as well.
Last year, NYCB acquired Signature Bank after it failed. Almost a year later, the New York-based bank was given a junk credit rating by Moody's.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Higher interest rates and troubled commercial real estate are piling pressure on regional banks

Jan 22, 2024
We'll be getting a sense of how they're doing as they report quarterly results this week.
A view inside a Silicon Valley Bank location in March 2023. Since the collapse of SVB, a lot of small and mid-sized banks have tried to stop depositors from pulling out their money by raising interest rates on deposits.
Noah Berger/AFP via Getty Images

With commercial real estate set for another tough year, some small banks are worried

Jan 17, 2024
Amid high interest rates and vacancy rates, lenders and regulators are concerned about the fallout when borrowers renew their loans.
Plenty of companies are planning to downsize their office space, which worries lenders that have a lot of commercial real estate debt on their balance sheets.
David McNew/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

A new wave of office downsizing could hit this year

Jan 16, 2024
Commercial leases are typically five years or longer, so those who signed before the pandemic might be making exit plans.
A recent survey of 500 businesses found three-quarters of them plan to shrink their offices this year, according to data from Robin, a flexible work software platform.
Portra/Getty Images

In Shanghai, vacant storefronts abound, but it's still a struggle to find space

Jan 9, 2024
China's housing bubble has popped, and the commercial property market is going through a rough patch.
For lease signs are posted on an empty Shanghai coffee shop. The commercial property market is going through a transition after the city's severe pandemic lockdown.
Charles Zhang/Marketplace

Could commercial real estate still tank regional banks?

Dec 21, 2023
A new study says that 300 regional banks are at risk of collapse because of the high number of vacancies in office buildings.
The delinquency rate on office loans tripled this year, says Trepp's Stephen Buschbom.
Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images