NEW YORK (Reuters) – Big U.S. banks survived a hypothetical 40% drop in commercial real estate values as a part of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s annual health test, easing fears about the banking sector as landlords struggle in a higher-for-longer interest rate world.
As risks mount in the CRE space, investors were looking to the Fed’s “stress tests” to assess how exposed America’s lenders are at a time when pandemic-era work habits continue to empty office towers, sending vacancy rates past historic peaks to a record 20%.
“In a lot of respects, there should be a sense of comfort that banks can weather a very nasty storm,” said Chris Marinac, head of research at Janney Montgomery Scott. “Though this doesn’t mean the Fed thinks commercial real estate is out of the woods. It’s still early innings in this credit cycle.”
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The Fed’s emergency drill tests banks’ balance sheets against an imagined severe economic downturn that also includes a 36% decline in U.S. home prices, a 55% drop in equity prices and an unemployment rate of 10%.
The results, released on Wednesday by the Fed, examine whether banks would be able to continue lending to households and businesses in the event of a severe global recession. They also indicate the amount of capital banks need to be considered healthy – and how much they can return to shareholders through dividends and buybacks.
The 31 large banks tested showed they have sufficient capital to absorb nearly $685 billion in losses.
The Fed’s disaster test comes more than a year after the collapse of mid-size lenders Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic. Those failures prompted criticism that the Fed had failed to gauge banks’ vulnerabilities against rising interest rates; instead, the Fed imagined interest rates would fall amid a severe recession.
Commercial office space is being closely watched as $929 billion of the $4.7 trillion of outstanding commercial mortgages held by lenders and investors will come due in 2024, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. This looming maturity wall comes against a backdrop of declining property values and lower rent rolls.
Analysts predict a painful reckoning for CRE, with banks still retaining “considerable concentration risks,” according to Moody’s Ratings.
Of the banks tested, Goldman Sachs had the highest projected loan loss for commercial real estate, at 15.9%. RBC USA, Capital One and Northern Trust followed, with projections at 15.8%, 14.6% and 13%, respectively.
One criticism of the Fed’s stress test by analysts was that it did not include the regional banks that hold the majority of CRE loans. Regional lenders are also less regulated than their larger peers.
(Reporting By Michelle Conlin, editing by Deepa Babington)
HALIFAX – A village of tiny homes is set to open next month in a Halifax suburb, the latest project by the provincial government to address homelessness.
Located in Lower Sackville, N.S., the tiny home community will house up to 34 people when the first 26 units open Nov. 4.
Another 35 people are scheduled to move in when construction on another 29 units should be complete in December, under a partnership between the province, the Halifax Regional Municipality, United Way Halifax, The Shaw Group and Dexter Construction.
The province invested $9.4 million to build the village and will contribute $935,000 annually for operating costs.
Residents have been chosen from a list of people experiencing homelessness maintained by the Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia.
They will pay rent that is tied to their income for a unit that is fully furnished with a private bathroom, shower and a kitchen equipped with a cooktop, small fridge and microwave.
The Atlantic Community Shelters Society will also provide support to residents, ranging from counselling and mental health supports to employment and educational services.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2024.
Housing affordability is a key issue in the provincial election campaign in British Columbia, particularly in major centres.
Here are some statistics about housing in B.C. from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s 2024 Rental Market Report, issued in January, and the B.C. Real Estate Association’s August 2024 report.
Average residential home price in B.C.: $938,500
Average price in greater Vancouver (2024 year to date): $1,304,438
Average price in greater Victoria (2024 year to date): $979,103
Average price in the Okanagan (2024 year to date): $748,015
Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Vancouver: $2,181
Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Victoria: $1,839
Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Canada: $1,359
Rental vacancy rate in Vancouver: 0.9 per cent
How much more do new renters in Vancouver pay compared with renters who have occupied their home for at least a year: 27 per cent
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Voters along the south coast of British Columbia who have not cast their ballots yet will have to contend with heavy rain and high winds from an incoming atmospheric river weather system on election day.
Environment Canada says the weather system will bring prolonged heavy rain to Metro Vancouver, the Sunshine Coast, Fraser Valley, Howe Sound, Whistler and Vancouver Island starting Friday.
The agency says strong winds with gusts up to 80 kilometres an hour will also develop on Saturday — the day thousands are expected to go to the polls across B.C. — in parts of Vancouver Island and Metro Vancouver.
Wednesday was the last day for advance voting, which started on Oct. 10.
More than 180,000 voters cast their votes Wednesday — the most ever on an advance voting day in B.C., beating the record set just days earlier on Oct. 10 of more than 170,000 votes.
Environment Canada says voters in the area of the atmospheric river can expect around 70 millimetres of precipitation generally and up to 100 millimetres along the coastal mountains, while parts of Vancouver Island could see as much as 200 millimetres of rainfall for the weekend.
An atmospheric river system in November 2021 created severe flooding and landslides that at one point severed most rail links between Vancouver’s port and the rest of Canada while inundating communities in the Fraser Valley and B.C. Interior.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
