Consider this likely scenario: The heavy retail investor inflows into corporate bond funds last spring (far in advance of the peak in defaults, by the way) undoubtedly helped push corporate bond spreads down. The quant funds’ models detected this movement, concluded that the recession might be over, and proceeded to buy stocks that are highly sensitive to future U.S. consumer spending — including banks and REITs. This scenario likely explains some of the rally in bank and REIT shares, which occurred far in advance of the peak in credit losses.

This type of scenario could easily reverse this fall as experienced stock and bond fund managers start to question why they own barely solvent financial companies at valuations that imply 4-5% real GDP growth over the next two years. Huge swathes of the financial sector are insolvent (the mark-to-market value of assets is less than liabilities), and the debate over mark-to-market accounting boils down to whether losses should be recognized up front or over long periods of time. The losses are not going away, and were baked in the cake as soon as the bubble-era loans were made.

Last fall’s panic was not really a “black swan” event; it was the realization that much of the banking system was insolvent and at the mercy of electronic bank runs. Last fall, I thought that at the very least, the authorities had a plan to wind down Lehman in a controlled manner. Instead, Lehman went into forced liquidation and took the “shadow” banking system down with it. Our Lehman puts were huge winners, but even I was surprised at how quickly Lehman stock went to zero.

The issue facing REITs parallels that of the banks: an industry-wide solvency crisis. Only REITs lack access to enormous subsidies from the Federal Reserve, which include the manipulation of borrowing rates down to the range of 1%, resulting in a profitable spread on new lending.

If you carefully consider the combined statistics on commercial mortgage debt, equity, and future rental cash flows, you come to the conclusion that the value of many REITs is permanently impaired. Even if a core group of higher-quality REITs escapes bankruptcy, their equity will still be impaired because lenders will only refinance properties on very tight terms: strict covenants, high interest rates, and requirements of hefty equity infusions into upside-down properties. This is a transfer of wealth from REIT shareholders to creditors. This wealth transfer is occurring through many channels, but the most important one relates to claims on future rental cash flow, which will be bleak regardless of who owns it:

1. Creditors will take a higher share of those rental cash flows via higher interest rates
2. Of the cash flows that trickle down to shareholders, they will be divided up among more and more REIT shares as we see more and more dilutive secondary offerings

This unprecedented collapse in commercial real estate fundamentals means that for the next few years, you can throw out the analyses that rely on “cap rates” to value REITs. Distressed sellers and vulture buyers will make up the bulk of commercial real estate transactions for at least the next few years. Equity looking to invest will be scarce, so it will demand very low prices and high potential returns to invest.

Between now and 2013, $1.6 trillion in commercial real estate debt will mature. Bankers know this, so they’re going to keep conditions very tight for any refinancing that they grant. Plus, a hefty chunk of this debt is held by commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS), in which the lenders cannot sit across the table and renegotiate with stressed borrowers; owners of senior CMBS tranches will want to liquidate the collateral to get paid back, while owners of the junior tranches will want to refinance and pray for a recovery in value. I expect the motives of the senior lenders to win out, resulting in lots of property liquidations.

REITs Selling Must Compete to Dump Properties

Lots of REITs have plans to sell properties to pay down debts but… Sell to whom? And at what sort of price? Yet REIT investors seem unaware the hundreds of billions in new equity that creditors will require to refinance mortgages that were made during the 2006-2007 peak in values — and what that catalyst will do to the value of their equity.

On Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal ran a story that relates to this theme: “Tishman Faces Office Downturn.” Link in Web Version Only. The article describes the tough choices facing privately owned real estate investment partnership Tishman Speyer, which owns Manhattan landmarks like the Chrysler Building and Rockefeller Center.

Tishman also owns a levered portfolio of Washington, D.C., properties named CarrAmerica. You’d think that with all the crony capitalists flocking to Washington the lobbying business is booming. But apparently, even lobbying is not a strong enough business to justify CarrAmerica charging the pricey rents it needs to pay its mortgages. The WSJ describes the financing problem:

The Tishman partnership that bought the CarrAmerica portfolio has been in talks with its lenders, led by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., since late 2008 about modifying the credit agreement, according to S&P. But so far, nothing has happened and, until now, the talks have been kept quiet. “We have confidence in the long-term value of the properties,” Rob Speyer said.

S&P warned even if Tishman wins new covenants, its ability to refinance the loans in 2011 “will likely require additional capital investment or a recapitalization.” [emphasis added]

The Tishman mortgages were one of many credits that Lehman was marking at fantasy levels. As it turns out, the bears on Lehman were right: The loans that Lehman provided to Tishman to finance its acquisition of Archstone-Smith were impaired soon after they were underwritten.

What will the Tishman family do about its privately held portfolio? How much debt is carried against Tishman Speyer’s properties? I get the impression that it’s a lot, considering Tishman’s aggressive behavior at the market peak (as opposed to, say, Sam Zell, who unloaded a ton of properties onto Blackstone (NYSE:BX) and Maguire (NYSE:MPG), which will both wind up losing most or all of their equity). Tishman Speyer will probably hit a lot of low bids on its second-rate properties to raise the cash that banks will require as new injections in order to refinance — and keep to deeds to — its trophy properties.

The smart money in commercial real estate — including Sam Zell — certainly sees the mountain of debt maturities coming down the pike. Investors will certainly be looking for bargains in commercial real estate, and they will find the best deals in either foreclosure auctions or purchasing commercial mortgages from stressed banks at a discount.

Regards,
Dan Amoss

Source: REITs Racing to Bankruptcy

As Money Morning warned in an investigative report that ran in early April, the stumbling U.S. commercial real estate sector was developing into a financial black hole that was threatening to blot out the resurgence of the U.S. economy. Commercial real estate prices have been in sharp decline for the past two years, making it tough for owners to refinance and pressuring companies to sell buildings at steep discounts.

The plummeting prices not only jeopardize a possible recovery, but they put pricing pressure on commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) that are held by institutional investors.

Commercial property is “certainly going to be a significant drag” on growth, Dean Maki, a former Fed researcher who is now chief U.S. economist at Barclays Capital Inc. (NYSE ADR: BCS), told Bloomberg. “The bigger risk from it would be if it causes unexpected losses to financial firms that lead to another financial crisis.”

Property values for commercial real estate such as hotels, apartments, shopping malls, and office buildings fell by more than 18% on a year-over-year basis during the second quarter, according to an index published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Center for Real Estate. That’s the biggest decline in the 25 years since the index was first published. It’s also the fifth consecutive quarterly drop and the seventh quarterly decline in the past eight quarters.

The index is down 39% from its mid-2007 peak, surpassing even the 30% decline in housing prices.

That means companies that earlier in the decade borrowed heavily and expanded as property values soared have been left with buildings that are worth far less than their mortgages and aren’t generating enough cash from rental fees to pay off financing expenses.

Maguire Properties Inc. (NYSE: MPG), one of the largest office-building owners in Southern California – including in the downtown Los Angeles market, for instance – is making preparations to turn seven properties with about $1.06 million in debt over to creditors.

But even with those sales, Maguire still has $3.5 billion in debt and many analysts believe that exceeds the value of the properties in its portfolio.

“Almost everything in Maguire’s portfolio is underwater,” Michael Knott, an analyst with Green Street Advisors Inc., told The Wall Street Journal. “I don’t envy some of the choices that they are having to make.”

Maguire reported a second-quarter net loss of $380.5 million, more than triple the loss of $110 million reported a year earlier.

If the slump in commercial real estate continues to test these depths, the Federal Reserve may be forced to keep emergency-lending programs in place and leave its benchmark interest rate close to zero for longer than some investors expect.

The Fed expanded the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF) in June to cover as much as $100 billion in loans to support commercial mortgage-backed securities.

More than 40 members of Congress, led by Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski, D-PA, on July 31 sent a letter to Bernanke and U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, asking them to extend the program through 2010.

“The $6 trillion commercial real estate market has recently experienced a massive credit shortfall, which the TALF program has only just begun to help stabilize,” the petition read. ”While I would like to wind down the government’s emergency support for the private sector as quickly as possible, we need to provide more time for the TALF program to work in this industry, especially with $1 trillion in commercial real estate debt maturing in the near future.”

Fed Chairman Bernanke – in his testimony before the Senate Banking Committee on July 22 – assured lawmakers that he is ready to counter the threat posed by the ailing commercial real estate market, and said he would consider the policymakers’ petition for an extension of the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility.

“We will certainly be monitoring the situation, and if markets continue to need support, we will be extending the final date of that program,” Bernanke said. “We are somewhat concerned about that sector and are paying very close attention to it. We’re taking the steps that we can through the banking system and through the securitization markets to try to address it.”

Source: Will Commercial Real Estate Pose the Next Hurdle for the Federal Reserve?