Commercial lending

Commercial real estate borrowers, including vulnerable office tower landlords, are increasingly struggling to make payments and, as a result, more lenders are expected to report higher credit costs.

Credit ratings were cut on the highest number of commercial mortgage-backed securities in "recent memory" last week, according to strategists at Bank of America Corp.

Commercial real estate loans are a growing area of concern for banks. But OceanFirst says its exposure to a troubled shared credit tied to a Manhattan office building isn't a sign of broader problems in its portfolio.

But a great deal of variation in distress levels were reported between individual markets and property sectors, according to two new reports.

When 55 banks were asked to provide metrics on the health of their commercial real estate borrowers, some of them gave data that was six months old. The survey by Moody's Investors Service also found that certain borrowers are already struggling, and others could hit trouble soon, since they'll need to refinance at high interest rates.

The work-from-home era has wrecked old assumptions about the need for office space, leaving an unprofitable glut in the market, Willy Walker said.

Demand-driven inflation will continue to be a problem in the U.S. economy until we somehow work through trillions of excess liquidity provided by the Federal Open Market Committee, writes the Chairman of Whalen Global Advisors.

Banking and credit union regulators encouraged compassionate treatment of customers in Hawaii communities hit by wildfires. They also vowed to grant expedited approvals of temporary banking facilities, be flexible in compliance matters and provide other support to financial institutions.

Moody's said higher funding costs, a potential decline in bank capital and growing risk in the commercial real-estate industry prompted many of the downgrades.

Lenders including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. have been trying to sell debt backed by offices, hotels and even apartments in recent months, but many are finding that tidying up loan books is no easy feat when concerns about commercial real estate have surged.

The Federal Reserve said that banks reported tighter standards and continued weak demand for loans in the second quarter, extending a trend that began before recent stresses in the banking sector emerged.

The companies have requested an extension of the floating-rate loan, which matured in July, according to a servicer report.

Several community banks noted an uptick in problem loans in second-quarter earnings reports. Small lenders should brace for more of this, industry observers noted.

The Wall Street giant has more than $14 billion of real estate investments, and it took a $1.15 billion hit during the second quarter from writedowns of those bets.

While multifamily late payments were flat, hotel properties continued to improve but office performance deteriorated significantly from the first quarter, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

The bank's allowance for losses on commercial real estate loans jumped to $3.6 billion in the second quarter — up 64% from a year earlier. The negative forecast could portend trouble for smaller banks that have bigger exposure to the office sector.

Mayor Michelle Wu is offering hefty tax breaks to companies to turn offices into housing, the latest example of a city seeking to address the challenges of remote work hitting downtowns and a lack of affordable residences.

High vacancy rates in U.S. office markets and the impact of rising interest rates on property values in Europe have prompted a brutal selloff in publicly traded real estate stocks and bonds.

Cullen/Frost, Columbia, Synovus, Valley National and Associated all have relatively large exposures to the office sector, which has been hurt by the popularity of remote work. Their executives point to factors that offer protection, including the geographic composition of their portfolios and the types of buildings that serve as collateral.

The amount of distressed assets rose 10% in the first three months of the year, according to a new report from MSCI Real Assets.