- U.S. commercial real estate market suffers from rising interest rates, remote work trend, and e-commerce dominance, leading to increased vacancies, declining rents, and higher borrowing costs.
- Cantor Fitzgerald’s CEO warns of potential $700bn to $1tn defaults in the next two years if interest rates do not decrease quickly, expects a “generational change” in real estate.
- $1.2tn commercial real estate debt set to mature by 2025, with 25% belonging to struggling operators, and rising interest rates making defaults likely.
Additional Coverage:
- Billionaire CEO sees $1 trillion in commercial real estate defaults coming for ‘very, very ugly market’ over next 2 years (fortune.com)
The commercial real estate market in the United States has been severely impacted by rising interest rates, the remote work trend, and the dominance of e-commerce sellers. This has led to a significant increase in office and retail space vacancies, a decline in rents, and an increase in borrowing costs. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), U.S. commercial real estate prices have fallen by 11% since March 2022, marking the worst decline in over 50 years.
Cantor Fitzgerald’s billionaire chairman and CEO, Howard Lutnick, predicts that unless interest rates fall quickly, there could be between $700 billion to $1 trillion of defaults in the next two years. Lutnick believes that the outlook for the sector is extremely bleak and that there will be a “generational change” in real estate.
There is an estimated $1.2 trillion in commercial real estate debt maturing by the end of 2025, with 25% of that debt belonging to struggling office and retail space operators. With interest rates rising by more than 5 percentage points in the past two years, defaults are likely to occur.
Lutnick, who is also the chairman and CEO of BGC Partners, warned that the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes are having a significant impact on the real estate market and the economy, likening them to a “steamroller.”
There are concerns among real estate experts that rising commercial real estate defaults could trigger a chain reaction that affects regional banks with the most exposure to the sector, ultimately impacting the entire economy. The IMF also expressed similar concerns in a recent report, urging financial supervisors to remain vigilant to prevent the issues in the commercial real estate sector from becoming an economy-wide problem.
Despite the grim situation, Lutnick believes that the economy can handle these challenges. He acknowledges that there will be a slower economy in the coming years due to rising real estate defaults and higher interest rates, but he does not believe it will lead to a recession. Lutnick is impressed with how the economy has been able to cope with the difficulties thus far.
The original article was featured on Fortune.com.