Commercial Real Estate is Coming Under Immense Pressure Due to COVID

The commercial real estate market is starting to implode due to COVID. The experts are warning that a record amount of store closures are coming. We also examine data showing the problems are not limited to retail stores, but across all areas of commercial real estate.

• Experts predict 25,000 stores will close;
• We walk through a list of the top brand closures;
• Specifically, Simon Property is suing GAP for $69 million in back rent;
• We discuss why back to school sales are expected to be very limited this year;
• We then discuss how companies are dealing with sales downturn by drawing billions on their credit lines;
• We show data on how credit lines are very low margin for the banks that provide them;
• Data on delinquencies from Trepp shows that all areas of commercial real estate are being affected;
• Each commercial area is experiencing a sudden hockey stick formation in delinquencies for May 2020.

It will be interesting to see how real estate reacts in a second COVID wave that many believe has already started.