Why commercial real estate will plunge FDIC insured banks into closure

The commercial real estate bust is in full swing. This $3 trillion mortgage market is standing to push hundreds of banks into failure and adding additional strain to the embattled FDIC. Commercial real estate (CRE) is a good indicator of where things are heading economically because it is a reflection of what revenues are being brought in by certain properties. For example, a strip mall owner will lease out space to clients that ideally will earn more money each month to cover their rents. That is typically how CRE deals went down. But for the past decade people invested in CRE with the implied notion that they could always sell the underlying CRE for a higher price irrespective of the actual revenue stream the real estate could produce. For CRE this is sin number one.

Commercial real estate values went on a 91 percent tear from 2001 to 2008: (more)