The Time Bomb Lurking in All Those Empty Office Buildings

Low interest rates sent money pouring into real estate, transforming cities around the world. But pandemic lockdowns emptied out business districts and tenants have been slow to return. Now commercial real estate is in trouble, and the consequences may extend across the global economy. Get unlimited access to Bloomberg.com for $1.99/month for the first 3 months: www.bloomberg....
#RealEstate #Economy #Bloomberg
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[@business]

Get unlimited access to Bloomberg.com for *$1.99/month* for the first 3 months: www.bloomberg.com/subscriptions?in_source=KZbinOriginals Watch more of our News Spotlight documentaries👉kzbin.info/aero/PLqq4LnWs3olXOhUOv4O6r-9OdWTQN83se How This Tiny Country Can Avoid the 'Oil Curse'👉kzbin.info/www/bejne/f4uYoZyteJWGZ8U Singapore, China and a $2 Billion Money Laundering Scandal👉kzbin.info/www/bejne/a6umqZRvoLN7d8U

[@trapiconti4001]

You showed the Aon center in chicago, not LA

[@iamgermane]

AND THEY SUE TRUMP FOR OVERVALUING HIS PROPERTY???

[@Rays_Bad_Decisions]

It would be nice if you talked about how retirement funds are used to back these bad investments while Chinese use fentanyl money to buy new construction

[@AMPProf]

OMG I HOPE SO FINALLY A RESET

[@chrishoff402]

This is why I have a theory about that $355 million/$455 million court judgement against Donald Trump in New York. His properties were valued at that amount before Covid and Zoom made the whole downtown financial district obsolete. Now those Trump properties are only worth what the Court says they are, a mere fraction of that $450 million, maybe only 18 million. So lets say the NY court seizes and then sells all the Trump properties for less than $100 million. Trump can take the court judgement to the tax man and claim a massive deduction. He can also appeal the verdict to the supreme court and not only get the judgement overturned, but the supreme court can say he's the victim of lawfare as a form of political harassment and they won't tolerate any further cases being brought against him. So now NY has to make restitution for the amount of $455 million because their judgement has been overturned on property that they sold for less than $100 million, because that's actual market value in 2024. Trump gets to offload worthless property without losing a dime on it's original pre Covid market value and pays less in taxes for it. That's the real Art of The Deal.

[@treasurethetime2463]

Please don’t blame the pandemic. The ridiculousness of commercial real estate and the future of a drop in the need for office space was predicted in exponential organizations years ago.

[@CypherJj4457]

Years ago🗣️ they ALREADY knew this was gonna happen

[@wrightmf]

Exactly!

[@jimbojimbo6873]

But it was literally the pandemic that started this

[@Jebbis]

@@jimbojimbo6873 no the pandemic was just a black swan event. This has been going on for over a decade.

[@williamparrish2436]

@@jimbojimbo6873 The pandemic was a once every hundred year occurrence. Almost impossible to predict and it crushed the world's economy. No way to predict that!

[@AgataRadizikowska]

We Are in Unchartered Financial Waters! every day we encounter challenges that have become the new standard. Although we previously perceived it as a crisis, we now acknowledge it as the new normal and must adapt accordingly.... Given the current economic difficulties that the country is experiencing in 2024, how can we enhance our earnings during this period of adjustment? I cannot let my $680,000 savings vanish after putting in so much effort to accumulate them.

[@Amanda5ycl]

Keeping some gold is usually a wise decision. You would be better off keeping away from equities for a bit or, even better, seeking advice from an expert given the current market conditions and everything that is at risk with the current economy.

[@SummerBear74]

Yes, I agree. I use a financial advisor too. Same person since 2020. I don't worry about whether the economy is going up or down or sideways. I always ride through.

[@VeniceHew83]

Oh, really? I have never thought of that as an option. Can I ask who it is you've been working with? I bet I could use some help myself.

[@SummerBear74]

My CFA NICOLE ANASTASIA PLUMLEE a renowned figure in her line of work. I recommend researching her credentials further... She has many years of experience and is a valuable resource for anyone looking to navigate the financial market.. .

[@VeniceHew83]

I just curiously searched her up, and I have sent her an email. I hope she gets back to me soon. Thank you

[@GeraltBosMang]

They made the risky decision, and now taxpayers are going to have to bail them out again?

[@renemartin5729]

Of course. They're too big to fail.

[@HaiLeQuang]

Of course. Printing more money would make us suffer a bit inflation. But if a burst happens, it may lead to chaos

[@jeffcampbell2710]

We wish. What's coming is far worse. Look at BY, LA, Oakland, Chicago, San Francisco, and numerous other cities.

[@sweden_is_xxxx]

Yep. The taxpayer is the ultimate loser. 😂

[@brulsmurf]

as is tradition

[@Who-vt9oh]

I was an underwriter in commercial real estate lending in the years right after the great recession, and I remember being told (without actually being told) to try and approve as many loans as possible because we needed the origination income. The institution wasn't making hardly anything from interest income, because of the historically low interest rates, so there was a real pressure to approve as many loans as possible so we could collect the origination fee. The origination fee is a percentage of the loan amount (ours was 1%), so there was also an incentive to approve larger loans. The current situation doesn't surprise me at all. It was inevitable.

[@ahmedzakikhan7639]

Interesting. Doesn't it require approval from departments like Risk ?

[@dieglhix]

​@@ahmedzakikhan7639the risk department operate on stakeholder risk decisions. The risk department never take decisions, only get consulted and evaluate.

[@droldsw31]

You should be locked up in jail.

[@davidcox3076]

Can't make anything off the interest, so make it on the volume of loans with the origination fee instead. Pretty slick, until it all falls apart.

[@RUHappyATM]

@@droldsw31 And that my dear sir is why I don't have any respect for those involved in the financial industry.

[@NasTwice]

When homes and rents across the world rise to unsustainable highs, pricing out generations and people in need, they don't say anything. When the few wealthy landlords of office buildings possibly lose out on their rent money, it's the worst financial crisis since 2008

[@churblefurbles]

They bring in those with lower standards instead.

[@texasclawhammer6578]

Exactly. Well said

[@YeahNoTellTheTruth]

This

[@edwinurbina7843]

It’s interesting that the media focuses on the health of the economy more than the health of the citizens that make the economy run

[@Constantin_91]

Bingo

[@cx24venezuela]

Universal health care? Comunism woke agenda

[@Freiheit1232]

Someone should Start a citizens media to cover our perspective.. they used to exist in the 20s - 30s

[@erickpalacios8904]

True, but not surprising when capitalism is the basis of your entire society.

[@raghavendra1988]

They're importing citizens in your country to increase personal wealth of theirs 😂

[@pollutingpenguin2146]

The economy was never fixed in 2008 - the companies and state just made a bunch of new dumb decisions as they didn’t want to fix the issues and instead just kicking the can down the road and now it’s all going to come crashing down. And again, it’ll be the regular guy who’ll have to pay the bill, yet the regular guy has not benefited at all since the financial crisis. It’s completely outrageous.

[@butwhytharum]

This issue wasn't part of 08. That crash was the plebs debt. This is the 1%'s debt. And if you're in my situation you don't have any debt and are waiting for the crash to capitalize on the greedy who put the cart before the horse.

[@wajutiem08]

Correct. I have been saying this. But people, especially conservatives, ususlly tell me to just stop drinking that latte, or stop eatin toasted avocado,or living beyond your means, or quit your job and get a better job, or go back to school, etc etc. In otherwords, they say anything to gaslight you to believe that you are the problem rather than the bad economy from 2008.

[@annoyingcommentator1582]

@@wajutiem08 People who see outside forces as the problem might not be 100% false all the time but they are less likely to make intelligent decisions to change things themselves. I took advantage of the opportunities since 2008 opportunisticly (yes I feel the need to stress that. It's the core of financial sucess, no matter how grand or modest), and feel like I can cheer on an obsolete sector disappearing now. Of course there are young people now who did not have any opportunities yet and will be hid just as hard as young people have been hit in 2008. But it's not the majority. It's not that it is wrong that the problems of 2008 have not been dealt with. It's that the general moron things he can trusts politics with solving the problem for him. What have you done since 2008? How have you prepared for the next crash? And what where you willing to give up for it? There are a bunch of movies about 2008 and they all show to some degree it's not just one part of society that fucked that up. The banks, the government and the "little people" all knowlingly and ruthlessly participated in what was going on and then blamed each other like whiny little bitches. My favourite of the bunch is Margin Call, because of the "Fuck Normal People Speech" kzbin.info/www/bejne/pHOomH2QmclleLMsi=SPJKF6SXNnGJfEOV Leverage, CDO, MBS, government housing subsidies and inherents problems with financial regulations have all been throughly discussed as important factors, but the unfathomable hypocracy of the ordinary consumer gets too littel attention in the whole issue. You didn't get anything out of the shit you have to pay for now? Well, I don't know. Maybe not. Maybe you are super special. But that makes you 1 in 10 million or so.

[@JudgeCrater22]

You can trace the wreckage in the current American economy and the commercial real estate collapse to 1982, when deranged SEC chairman John Shad changed the SEC's policy since 1934 on share buybacks. Shad's new rule 10b-18 stated that share buybacks by corporations were no longer presumed to be market manipulation and therefore illegal. Instead, Rule 10b said corporations had a “safe harbor” to buy back their stocks, which would usually cause their share price to go up. This one rule change put "greenmailers" like Carl Icahn and banksters in charge of Wall Street. "Activist" investors could threaten to take control of companies unless the companies went into debt to buy back their shares to raise their price and ensure the greenmailers made a handsome profit. The companies now had to pay off the loans they took out to buyback their shares. Many times in the 1980s, the companies were unable to meet their new debt load from buying back their shares. Then, bankruptcy. Every goniff with an M.B.A. degree got into the act, calling themselves hedge funds or private equity. This debt death spiral continues to the present.

[@draneym2003]

But knowing how this ends, when real estate development gets overextended it's perfect free market to bail these guys out. Good luck on getting the same on your mortgage.

[@GigachudBDE]

Insane how theres simultaneously a giant commercial real estate crisis going on due to oversupply, while at the same time there's an affordable housing crisis due to undersupply. All without doing anything about changing our archaic zoning laws and no real infrastructure projects for urban areas pertaining to mass transporation. San Fran can't build giant apartment towers because Nimby's don't want their views ruined and New York can't fill up their rent controlled apartments because landlords want market rate rental prices for rent controlled units. This country is a disaster.

[@HepCatJack]

Often the taxes are based on what the city evaluates a property to be worth. So they have to pay taxes as if they were receiving market rate rental while being hampered with the rent control. The only way that landlords can afford rent control is if their taxes are lower and they can afford the maintenance of the property otherwise it's a melting ice cube.

[@Westhamsterdam]

Office space is very hard to turn into residential.

[@HepCatJack]

@@Westhamsterdam true, but for those that can do it and end up doing it, it will bring down the available inventory of offices bringing it closer in line with demand.

[@Dendarang]

Commercial real estate isn't the same as residential, vast majority of these buildings can't be easily or at all converted into housing because they're giant office blocks built to be places of business and aren't necessarily fit to be inhabited on permanent basis.

[@lenaely6146]

As long as you understand it's a disaster...a man made disaster.

[@Distortion0]

Housing advocates have been saying for years that our cities are full of empty buildings only have value on paper and their owners are propping up their value with debt. We've been told we were crazy this whole time.

[@neatodd]

Just because you can add background music to a video doesn't mean that you should. Think of the viewer trying to focus on what is being said.

[@iank.2162]

I never understood the point of it. "oh yeah, sound my uncle beating pans or strange violin is what is missing in this video"

[@christianschwalbach7561]

or you could ignore the noise....

[@scrapbrainsinc]

But how do I know when to be sad? Or When to be happy? Help me!

[@WackadoodleMalarkey]

Background music is for making whoopie, not for serious journalism

[@jomckeag4482]

I came here for the content, stayed for the background music

[@jaw0449]

Speculators overspeculated? Oh no, we can't let them fail

[@iamgermane]

AND THEY SUE TRUMP FOR OVERVALUING HIS PROPERTY???

[@nyc8452]

Geez, private equity, banks and commercial real estate companies face huge losses on office buildings and they're insisting that we all 'return to the office'! I wonder why? It has nothing to do with productivity, company culture or clients and everything to do with trying to protect bad investments at artificially low interest rates.

[@John-xd9wr]

The rent is due for the building regardless if its got workers inside it or not.

[@nyc8452]

@@John-xd9wr but companies renewing their leases are downsizing their rental needs because they don't need as many seats. Most commercial leases are 3 - 5 years so it was fine during the pandemic, but 3 years later companies have downsized (and continue to downsize) their office needs when their leases are up for renewal. They also have a lot of options now so not only are they downsizing their lease, but they're getting a better price per seat. Lower occupancy and lower prices means less rent, which means a much higher potential of defaulting on loan payments, which means souring investments for banks, hedge funds and private equity.

[@William0271]

We need an Amendment banning the government from bailing out failing lenders.

[@alinaqirizvi1441]

What if the failure would be detrimental to the standard of living of the people of the country

[@William0271]

@irizvi1441 It's the peoples' fault for agreeing to loans they can't pay back. They can start a loan insurance company.

[@Charlie-ly9kp]

@@William0271😂😂😂 it’s crazy you think that, genuiney

[@William0271]

@@Charlie-ly9kp Do you have no concept of reality? Right not loan insurance exists. That's what the federal government is doing, insuring garbage loans with our stolen tax dollars. Privatizing this would take the burden off of tax payers and put it squarely on the people and businesses being reckless.

[@arsenal-slr9552]

The problem with that is these lenders also buy things like, your mortgage. So if they default on that, your payments go up in smoke.

[@jameslongstaff2762]

After the 2008 bail out, I'm partial to letting the banks fail

[@davidburnett5049]

They wouldnt help us if we needed it. Why should we help them?

[@theultimatereductionist7592]

Obviously, jameslongstaff!

[@JohnClarkW]

I am going to ride past the fact that you are late to the party, and instead acknowledge that you showed up at all. The 08 bailout just encouraged other risky investments.

[@jimkelly4214]

You want to lose your life savings?

[@davidburnett5049]

@@jimkelly4214 i dont have enebough to worry about

[@DannyDelorean]

Oh my. Who would have ever predicted that greed would create consequences?

[@karachaffee3343]

What is going on is that bankers think that bankers are the most important people in the world --and tall office buildings to house them are therefore the most important structures to build lots and lots of.

[@jimbojimbo6873]

What are you talking about

[@Australiaisupsidedown]

I too have autism

[@Usernotfound31231]

Funny how the billionaires who expect handouts for their bad investments are the same ones who think everyone with student loans should suffer forever

[@nisher15]

Funny how you vote for the politicians that help them..

[@ricardcluter4765]

Funny how what leftists call capitalism, is actually socialism, and it's FAILING, as expected and as it always does.

[@IsaacKripke]

Student loan “relief” is a blatant handout for people enriching themselves. Blue collar workers shouldn’t be footing the bill for the education of the white collar class.

[@bobcortez9471]

Neither should get handout, that's the solution, not give away money to debtors for their degrees in gender studies

[@Usernotfound31231]

@@bobcortez9471 I get that you’re triggered but it’s pretty pathetic that you got emotional and made this about your identity politics

[@vitodanelli]

“Privatize Profits - Socialized Losses”. The Capitalist Business Model (or in layman’s terms: Heads I Win; Tails You Lose).

[@LarryDickman1]

Real capitalism would let the banks or businesses fail. We have Crony capitalism.

[@tahbit]

"Office Space" is not an industry.

[@crude223]

It is a great movie though😂

[@rfwhyte]

This is the real reason all the CEOs are pushing for their employees to return to the office. The CEOs and their wealthy friends and cronies are the same folks who who own all this commercial real estate. The only thing they care about is propping up the values of their commercial real estate holdings, and all the talk about "Productivity," "Creativity" or whatever other BS they're spouting is just smoke and mirrors to distract from what they really care about, which is protecting the value of their investments. The pandemic proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that workers spending unpaid time sitting in cars or on transit commuting to offices provides exactly ZERO value to the economy, but the wealthy CEOs and bankers who run the world would rather people suffer needlessly than be slightly less rich.

[@Julian-tf8nj]

my thoughts, exactly!

[@thebl3mish]

It all comes down to this "poster family" of the 1980's where "dad" would commute to downtown and "mom" would stay at home to cook, clean the house and pick up the kids. Nowadays in most families both parents work full time and sometimes you would see them stretching their work hours more and more, WFH and flexible hours was a small blessing for the deteriorating white collar middle class families - but hey the moronic managers wanted to "actually see them working and wasting their life away" so yeah back to meaningless work environments.

[@grogery1570]

I did wonder why corporations were pushing for a return to office's when in the past they tried every thing they could to reduce expensive rents. Work from home at first glance is a financial gift to corporations.

[@BeWater2019]

@@grogery1570but it diminishes the self-importance of management, so …

[@MrTigerStarX]

0% interest rates are turning out to be disastrous in the long run.

[@raquetdude]

He said that the governments gave money to people… they didn’t they gave money to the banks… it was never government debt it was always private bank debt

[@myday2704]

All caused by lockdowns we didn't really need to have!

[@MistaTofMaine]

Agreed.

[@neodym5809]

Well, one can argue that the alternative would have been worse. But honestly: property owners losing money does not sound too disastrous to me.

[@sokolmihajlovic1391]

A surprise? Big daddy of all crisis because of too low interest rates for too long has to popp yet, Japan China is not far behind

[@zealman79]

Come on guys, we need to be working at the office 14 days a week to save these commerical guys!!

[@speciestraitors9297]

Exactly. The younger generations are so selfish smh

[@ericbailey9549]

Sounds like all these people need to learn financial responsibility.

[@rickkearn7100]

Odd how world economies go belly-up when billionaires make mistakes, isn't it?

[@jimbojimbo6873]

Billionares are just the tip of the iceberg, its midde class commoners that work for them helping too We are all in this not just one white woman making decisions in an ivory tower

[@hiimjustin8826]

Oh but see, the reason they did this is because they wanted to become more wealthy. So I'm sure now you're just full of empathy

[@tallchief22]

Privatize the profits, socialize the losses.

[@felipesuarez5041]

The biggest equity holders and one of the biggest investors in the world are pension funds. That means common people that count on this money for their retirement. If these funds fail, people will have nothing to survive on their older years. The alternative to this, is public pension systems, where young people pay for the retirement of old people, which is basically a Ponzi scheme. This does not mean that the managers of these funds should not be held accountable for doing bad decissions with other peoples money.

[@snydedon9636]

And politicians.

[@joeg9478]

Just Let The Banks Fail No bailouts.

[@QAYWSXEDCCXYDSAEWQ]

If the bank where you keep your savings fails, what do you think will happen to your savings? They like the banks will disappear.

[@chris36256]

not if you put your money in an FDIC insured bank @@QAYWSXEDCCXYDSAEWQ

[@whatisrokosbasilisk80]

​@QAYWSXEDCCXYDSAEWQ Should've bought gold. We really need to normalise this idea that wherever you put your money IS A RISK.

[@corgiman101]

@@whatisrokosbasilisk80you think a totally useless pure metal that you ALSO dont have in-hand is going to help you if the world economy collapses? no, its not. What do you think the price of gold is based on? the fiat currency held by the banks

[@206remyboyz7]

I Agree anybody would be a fool put all of their savings in a Bank anyways ​

[@ajkulac9895]

Just project holographic avatars of remote workers into offices and charge the company for office space. Win - win - win.

[@coreyashley4949]

The crazy thing, is that people were buying up 'virtual property' for people to roam around in (sometime in the near future). The plan is to have us own nothing and be happy.

[@jimidando]

Honestly yay. The market regulates itself after all.

[@GenesisRip]

@wotermelon_A self-regulating market is... "anarchy"...?

[@prolific1518]

Not at all. Fed govt will step in during Biden's election year to make sure it doesn't fall apart.

[@redpilledwarrior4367]

@@wbay3848 Ikr! Look at all the homeless who cant afford basic needs and pass away due to exposure while camped outside one of these unoccupied skyscrapers. Or are we only talking about bankers here?

[@GenesisRip]

@wotermelon_ Want to explain that one in a bit more detail?

[@jamescampbell6728]

Giant skyscraper office buildings have never been a good idea. They aren't space efficient and can't easily be converted to residential living spaces. We are just now realizing this, but at least we ARE realizing it. Many financial institutions will take a hit, but they deserve it for making a bad investment. Now these stupid things won't be built anymore. Hopefully we can effectively convert them to residential spaces like they are trying to do in NY so we can avoid a total collapse

[@georgepoitras3502]

But when you do that, the total rent for that building is no longer going to bring $100/Sq Foot as an apartment. In other words the value goes down and richie rich has to add collateral for the loan he took out 5 minutes after this building opened.

[@raquetdude]

2:50 they didn’t give money to people they gave money to private banks to cover their debt there’s a major difference

[@emptiester]

Tell me the difference because i dont know.

[@emptiester]

@@wbay3848 everyone who works at a private bank is "extremely rich"?

[@redpilledwarrior4367]

Its funny how so out of touch these guys are to make the notion that "the people" received the money. LOL.

[@mvmlego1212]

He's not talking about bailouts; he's talking about extremely low interest rates. Granted, the Fed loans to banks, not individuals, but it does strongly affect the interest rates that individuals receive. (e.g. for mortgages)

[@l0os176]

Every major societal and technological change has people who lose out because of said change. For this change, it's those who invested heavily in commercial real estate. The world is a better place with fewer companies requiring an unnecessary physical office presence. Those who invested in commercial office real estate will eat the losses, and the world will be just fine.

[@trailingupwards]

Government bail outs for private investors is fascism.

[@mchammer1836]

At the heart of this is office workers are now working from home. Another gift from COVID

[@desertstar223]

They build fantasy castles while there are people living in tents on the streets. The world is upside down

[@yux.tn.3641]

with remote working becoming more popular, this won't be sustainable

[@jimshoe402]

My Boss a Builder grew up in Chicago said No Way u need this 35 years ago. We built ESA Hotels too like 20 said these will be Senior Places 20 years from now BUT homeless centers NOW..😝😝😝😝😝

[@viniciuslsp16]

basically they put the whole economy at risk (again) in order to protect the few individuals who own all the real estate - isn’t it great to have a government that works in benefit of the people they represent (the 1% of course)

[@LivingWithGout]

Even if interest rates come down, the buildings are not bringing in more revenue. Hello?!? The issue is working from home, over leveraging, high vacancy rates, and geographical dynamics. It’s not interest rates alone.

[@SystemaAlpha]

Those developers and owners will be bailed out with the money from the workers, who in turn will be fired and not bailed out

[@adelitavalle1852]

I been through the 1970s high inflation, up and down of the stock market like Black Friday, tech bubble and the 2008. Each individual will handle a bad economic differently. If you are not prepared for bad time, it hurts.

[@elliotsilverstone8808]

Why would people put time bombs in office buildings? It sounds hazardous.

[@r.pres.4121]

It is the exact same problem with all the empty enclosed shopping malls as with all these office towers. There were too many being built throughout both the USA and the rest of the world. Now that technology and societal changes are rendering all these commercial real estate as unneeded and obsolete, the world’s landscape will end up littered with empty shopping malls and office towers that most likely should have never been developed in the first place.

[@seed_drill7135]

While the end result is the same, I don’t think it was overbuilding that killed the malls. Many of those that have failed were profitable for decades and have no nearby competitors, it’s online that killed them.

[@georgepoitras3502]

Right because they were never opening new malls to support the communities just to borrow money against the inflated value.

[@angelainamarie9656]

The people who used to do all that stuff are still here we just don't have any f****** money anymore because wealthy people have vacuumed it all up that's all that's actually happening.

[@gmfan09]

Can these office buildings be converted into apartments? Isn’t there a house shortage right now?

[@taylor3950]

It’s difficult because the layout and plumbing isn’t set up for individual apartments (unless they were huge) it would take a lot of retrofitting

[@WW-sw8ls]

could all be used for implosion Samples… call Bush

[@pepperonish]

Some, but it's not cheap. Unless you give pretty big subsidies to the developers, they cannot make it affordable housing. Or if the potential rent isn't high enough, they wouldn't be able to do conversions without taking a loss.

[@johnnynephrite6147]

"Asia and America are doing slightly better"? Better than what? Im working from home now and haven't been happier, so this "crisis" is a boon for me.

[@thejonno2709]

The real reason companies are forcing employees back to the office; they signed reckless and untenably long office contracts with little vision of the fact that they would soon not be necessary. Now the banks are pressuring them back to the offices and trying to preach that offices somehow give productivity to drive more investment.

[@TheRightONe-et3gh]

BRAVO! I actually I just talk with someone in that situation. The management need to cover for their stupidity.

[@donaldboyer8182]

Someone who worked in a bank many years ago told me that banks are allowed to loan $25.00 of "funny money" for every real $1.00 they hold. This means that if the borrower defaults someone has to take the hit for all the "funny money" and that means you and I.

[@onee]

Wait! I can buy it as a company, live in it. And then declare bankruptcy when people want their money?

[@Lumencraft-]

lowering interest rates is not going to solve the problem of people working from home rather than in an office.

[@SkarTisu]

That’s not a “problem”, that’s a new reality.

[@ChrisLevelsUp]

I hope tax payers don’t have to bail them out too

[@wallstreetzoomer]

its USA the empire of corporations and the top 1%, cue your hopes.

[@DefianceFinance]

you can hope away... in the end you will still have to pay.

[@renemartin5729]

Of course you'll pay. They're too big to fail.

[@jeffcampbell2710]

It's going to be far worse

[@apemancommeth8087]

It will!

[@cmleoj]

Maybe the commercial real estate lenders’ over reliance on avocado toast and lattes is coming home to roost. 🤦‍♀️

[@channelnevin]

So the banks took on too much risk? Let them fail.

[@neanam]

They will fail. But next time they will receive a bail-in not a bail out. Basically the money from depositers will be taken

[@mikmillerrealtor]

There’s a simple solution, lack of affordable housing is absorbed by commercial office vacant being converted into mixed used residential.

[@wilstewart5743]

This is great to see. I want more debt and more insolvency for commercial real estate. I’m a georgist and also a work from home ultra.

[@AAGGHH4]

You’ll pay for it via taxes to bail out the banks if it happen. I know you probably think you’re been edgy but actually you’ll be badly affected even if you don’t own the asset that collapses

[@marcusmoonstein242]

Absolutely agree. The worst thing that the government can do is to protect financial institutions from their own reckless lending. And Georgism is the best tax system.

[@pamelahomeyer748]

Start allowing stores in daycare centers to be in those buildings on different levels

[@richardhartland3637]

Real estate is being treated as an asset, which is ridiculous since it doesn't produce anything. It is NOT capital, it continually has wear and requires upkeep, contains continual tax increases. The eventual realization that this is a non productive use of investment has come. the bank and speculators deserve everything they loose. it will force capital to be used for productive means.

[@hiddenname9809]

Should we feel sorry?

[@oldcat87]

It’s all about work from home. Meanwhile residential single family home values keep rising

[@alphaomega1351]

Excessive debt is literally the problem with everything. Why not base an economy on earnings and savings? The debt based system makes no sense. 😳

[@brent4073]

We need to get back on the gold standard if you want people to stop taking out so much debt and abusing debt..

[@hostrow]

Modern economies are based on the premise of constant growth. How does one do that? They do it with debt.

[@Alsry1]

@@brent4073 the gold standard is impossible to go back to. we have too much money in circulation for any of it to be back by gold.

[@CarlosHernandez-b1x]

In monopoly there is no loans on property

[@NotADuncon]

There is something to be said about how unregulated and overspeculated an industry is that the words "this is the biggest crisis since" are followed by 2008 and not something 50 years ago. If the crisis cycle is 15 years there is a problem.

[@chrishan9138]

I've got zero sympathy for organisations that forced people to commute to offices for decades or the real estate owners and developers that profited from that misery.

[@jeffdunnell6693]

Cities are dying,,office buildings have work from home,,no overhead rent.

[@NS-cs3wp]

We can all rest assured that when these real-estate giants start to go bankrupt, they will be bailed out by the government with our tax dollars, get told that "it's fine because the money was repaid after a few years!", and more people will lose their homes and jobs. But a few wealthy people will make even more insane wealth! So everything's fine! The bit about everything being fine was sarcastic, sadly. Everything else is going to be what'll happen.

[@Westhamsterdam]

You have still got the problem what to do with these buildings. They still require huge maintenace.

[@williamlloyd3769]

AON Center aka First Interstate building in Los Angeles, CA has a small enough floor plate to convert site to condominiums or mix use with hotel. Overlooks newly rebuilt McArthur Park. Wonder if it would pencil out for a conversation?

[@BobJones-zw3ui]

The banks made a series of very liberal [not conservative ] bad bets. They should not be bailed out nor accommodated. As with any other business, if they make bad bets, they need to fail.

[@ahuras238]

Nothing that taxpayer funded bailouts can't fix! Thanks in advance, plebs.

[@richnubbz4910]

two words "SYSTEMIC RISK"

[@RichardCurrie]

Property prices are too high and rents are ridiculous. What economy can survive when rents are eating all the money

[@danielcaceres9971]

So if there is no need for more office space, why build it??

[@Dheinamar]

So what you're saying is that the 2008 real estate bubble did not burst, it just got reinflated by low interest rates and then exacerbated by the pandemic

[@jeffreystanley4991]

Oh no. Not rich people and banks loosing money. How horrible for them. They might have to fly in the greyhound of the sky instead of private.

[@rich-y1c]

Rich people wouldn’t suffer, the rest of us would suffer

[@felinequeen9243]

So why aren't these empty office buildings being turned into affordable housing? If you can buy an entire building for 43 cents, that should be pretty affordable for people to live in right?

[@budstep7361]

2:45 thank you for admitting, too many people don't realize that the mistakes of the past have not yet been paid for... They are putting it on the back of the 99%.

[@MichaelKurse]

75% of Federal office space is unused.😡😡😡

[@oliverstianhugaas7493]

Oh noo~ Apartments, the horror.

[@THESocialJusticeWarrior]

This is the only reason CEOs want you back in the office.

[@b1crusade384]

The best part is - It’s not my problem!

[@stevelam5898]

Just convert the excess commercial property capacity to residential real estate. That might ease the chronic shortage of residential space. In Europe, at least.

[@westernkingi9157]

From what I understand, commercial property leases are expiring, and in NY, the rates are too high to consider.

[@JAraujo-yt]

Doesn’t matter, keep interest rates where they are to keep investors prudent

[@macolet9711]

1997 Asian Financial Crises, 2007 Financial Crisis, 2024 Financial Crisis. All because of Real Estate

[@EveLord-hx1me]

I had a suggestion to make unused office spaces with flexible mix usable convertible spaces, When there are no office renters it can be easily converted into temporary rental accommodation with movable walls, ready placed plumbing & electrical grid. I even suggested to a office space owner that had been empty for year or more to convert it into pod hostel inspired from Japan's capsule hostels.

[@mileshunter1892]

With the housing shortages we face in so many cities why can’t they convert office spaces into condos rather than building atrocious apartments complexes everywhere I look?

[@reysochi422]

because converting a building in residential is not as expesive as building a new one. More real estate present more taxes. it doesn' matter if they are full or empty. also loans for building a new building are higher. happy politicians happy bankers, higher rents.

[@DigitalNomadOnFIRE]

The main problem is people are used to property prices massively increasing. Assets appreciating at crazy speed ISNT NORMAL. Assets are supposed to go down sometimes.

[@goprocreative]

If only there was a massive shortage of residential properties that they could be converted into🙄

[@LSDnSideBurns]

Unlimited growth. Unlimited debt. Unlimited greed. Unlimited risk. Unlimited damage.

[@velocity324]

This is nothing like 2008. Just a bunch of billionaires getting cut down because noone wants to spend the day in their awful overpriced concrete bunkers anymore.

[@kanji_nakamoto]

The people who think these buildings can’t be used for living are idiots.

[@ghislainpitre6597]

Transform them in condos...use them to produce food using LED and hydroponic...Aquaponic?

[@aluisious]

Everyone has known forever that a commercial construction bonanza tends to signal the end of a fiscal boom cycle, but every time they do the same thing and say "this time, it's different."

[@kevinderr440]

We have an affordable housing crisis. Instead of preparing to bail out the banks who hold these notes, let’s use federal funds to convert this space to housing.

[@emerjay348]

simple solution: switch these buildings into flats

[@ericwright8592]

There's another massive lever for removing money from the economy other than interest rates. Taxes. Raising corporate income tax would have a massive benefit of removing excess capital from corporations, that are by definition doing well. While also not having to necessarily drop rates to zero, which exacerbates the boom and bust cycle of credit sensitive sectors like real estate. Unfortunately we don't have economists in control of taxes, but rather politicians who use corporate taxes like a football for political games.

[@georgevue8175]

Relax taxpayers will be forced to bail them out again.

[@BlubBlob]

Turn office space into living space. Solves two problems at once. Easy.

[@GTPInternational]

Nobody wants to go back to an office

[@MartinPittBradley]

I know they say offices can’t be converted to residential, but that’s not true and we have a simultaneous housing shortage

[@jeremypearson6852]

Love that old film showing a row of bank tellers.

[@Gk2003m]

One huge issue in commercial real estate is the tax incentive. Owners get to take a write off on non-rented space, so as long as their overall operation is profitable there’s a huge incentive to NOT rent it. And that incentive exists because by charging a rent no one can afford, they are demonstrating that they are “attempting to make profit”. Thus we see commercial real estate empty everywhere.

[@nextinstitute7824]

You can make it as difficult as you want, but if the zoning laws are changed, and these property companies adjust to the new reality, two problems are solved housing and the property market somewhat saved. It is really wuite simple.

[@nextinstitute7824]

These companies are not coming back.

[@interestsavvy6813]

Time for employees to return to office to avoid real estate crash