Capmark posts $1.6B loss, banks brace for next wave of crisis

Capmark Financial Group, one of the largest U.S. commercial real estate lenders, posted a $1.6 billion quarterly loss Sept. 2, plummeting into financial distress and causing widespread speculation that a new crop of real estate losses may be in store for U.S. banks. Sam Chandan, chief economist at Real Estate Econometrics, said that many banks’ heavy investment in commercial real estate could cause continued hemorrhaging in the market. “We haven’t really experienced the full extent of the distress,” Chandan said. “When you look at community banks and some smaller regional banks, they tend to have a far greater concentration in terms of their exposure to commercial real estate.”