in March because, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. research, banks there with less than US$180 billion in assets hold around 70 per cent of commercial real estate loans in the banking system on their balance sheets. Meanwhile, for U.S. regional banks with between US$10 billion and US$20 billion in assets, 25 per cent of their loans are tied to commercial real estate.Article content
Dechaine noted that impaired commercial real estate loans aren’t yet rising substantially for Canadian banks, save for some exposure in the United States. But he added that the Canadian financial institutions do not disclose as much as their counterparts in the United States when it comes to set-aside provisions in their commercial real estate books, where U.S.
“With the CRE overhang and the ongoing turbulence in the U.S. regional banking sector that could trigger a recession, we believe most investors will maintain a cautious stance towards the Big-6 banks.
Other market watchers have expressed less concern about the ability of Canadian banks to weather exposure to commercial real estate. In an April 5 column, CPA Canada chief economist David-Alexandre Brassard wrote that the big banks were “well positioned” to deal with historically high vacancy rates and higher interest rates, noting that commercial real estate represents two per cent of their overall assets compared to 13 per cent for U.S. banks.