Fearing Losses, Banks Are Quietly Dumping Real Estate Loans

Wall Street banks are offloading commercial real estate loans due to concerns that landlords of vacant and struggling office buildings may not be able to pay off their mortgages. This is a result of the combined impact of high interest rates, making it harder to refinance loans, and low occupancy rates for office buildings caused by the pandemic.

The delinquent mortgage on the Argonaut office complex in midtown Manhattan was purchased by the family office of billionaire investor George Soros1. This sale was conducted by an affiliate of Deutsche Bank and another German lender, as revealed in court filings from late last year1.