The Bill Is Coming Due on a Record Amount of Commercial Real Estate Debt

return2ozma@lemmy.world to News@lemmy.world – 177 points –
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It's a very funny video with a clip of Ben Shapiro saying that the coast going underwater doesn't matter because people can just sell up and move. And hbomberguy asks who he thinks they're going to sell to, Aquaman?

Haha that's a good one.

Nah, there will be buyers for commercial buildings for the right price. Not pretending like they're going to get all of their investment back but as I said, you can still get some of it back.

For the right price, yeah. You'll be able to sell coastal properties for the right price too. Just nowhere near as much as you paid for them. They're not interested in getting only some of it back.

You can reuse commercial buildings for other things (like residential sky rise). You cannot reuse underwater homes.

Already covered.

I have no idea why people are trying to pretend it's not worrying the owners of these buildings when the owners of these buildings are throwing hissy fits all over the shop.

Who's going to pay $1 for an underwater home? No, these things are not alike.

Which is why I said "dangerously close". Office buildings which are empty because they're not needed as offices any more can be sold to developers who will turn them into housing or shops. But with fewer employers based there, demand for housing and shops may also disappear.

Or they can just be sold to other employers who actually need them?

Where are those employers coming from? The issue arises precisely because companies don't need anything like as much office space as they used to.

Some employers do, some don't. Maybe new businesses come along that need office space but couldn't previously afford it.

Yes, obviously. Is the number of employers who no longer need the office space larger or smaller than the number of employers who need more office space?

They're going to make a loss. They do not want to make a loss. No amount of imaginary buyers is going to stop them having to take a loss.