Banks are saddled with bad loans, signaling trouble ahead in the US commercial property market, Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s Charlie Munger told the Financial Times in an interview.
(Bloomberg) — Banks are saddled with bad loans, signaling trouble ahead in the US commercial property market, Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s Charlie Munger told the Financial Times in an interview.
Despite Berkshire’s long history of supporting US banks in times of turmoil, the company stayed on the sidelines after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. Some of the reticence came from risks lurking in banks’ large portfolios of commercial property loans, he said.
“A lot of real estate isn’t so good any more,” the Berkshire vice-chair told the Financial Times. “We have a lot of troubled office buildings, a lot of troubled shopping centers, a lot of troubled other properties. There’s a lot of agony out there.”
“Every bank in the country is way tighter on real estate loans today than they were six months ago,” Munger added.
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