Commercial real estate lending

The head of the short-selling firm Muddy Waters said he's short Blackstone Mortgage Trust, saying the publicly traded real estate investment trust is exposed to a perfect storm of economic conditions hitting commercial real estate and may face a liquidity crisis. 

WeWork, once valued at $47 billion, needs to slash costs and shore up its finances as it tries to continue operating.

WeWork may file its Chapter 11 petition in New Jersey as early as next week, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter who it didn't name. 

In conjunction with an announcement last week, federal agencies will conduct training workshops to help developers, lenders and other stakeholders benefit from the Biden administration's housing supply plan.

Washington Trust shares plunged after the Westerly, Rhode Island, company disclosed it booked an office deal in the third quarter, boosting the size of its portfolio while other lenders are pulling back.

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

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.

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

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.

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

New loan acquisitions fell to their lowest level since 2020, but companies also grew shares of residential securities noticeably over the past three years, S&P Global Market Intelligence said.

The work-from-home phenomenon spawned by the Covid-19 pandemic and a slowing economy are pushing tenants to cancel or not renew leases, making building owners miss loan payments.

The San Francisco-based bank is proactively managing its loan portfolio and working with borrowers to restructure terms with the goal of helping clients and minimizing risk, he said. 

Some of the biggest lenders to U.S. offices are weighing sales of loans on the properties as regulators heighten scrutiny on commercial real estate debt portfolios. 

In a policy proposal published Tuesday, Fed staffers called for supervisory changes to accommodate banks with commercial real estate loans still reeling from COVID.

Key retail vacancies, a drop in office occupancies, plus a combination of lower oil prices, a housing market oversupply — worsened by the coronavirus pandemic — caused loan-level performance issues.

The acquisition of Sabal Capital Partners, which has been growing its footprint in commercial mortgage-backed securities lending, will help the Alabama bank build out its capital markets business.