Carol Ryan of The Wall Street Journal reports that only 3.5% of offices sold last year came from a distressed seller, thanks to optimism and forgiving lenders. Ryan writes:
If offices are in such hot water, where are all the forced sellers?
Office-building owners have been under pressure since the Covid-19 pandemic hollowed out their buildings in early 2020. According to data from real-estate consulting firm Colliers, the U.S. vacancy rate has risen from 11% in late 2019 to 17% today, higher than at any point in the 2008 global financial crisis.
But forced sales are still surprisingly rare. In 2023, only 3.5% of all office deals in the U.S. involved a distressed seller, based on analysis by MSCI Real Assets. The most recent numbers available show the share slipping to 2.7% in January. Distressed sales ramped up much faster in the GFC. […]
A flood of “For Sale” signs looks inevitable, but they are taking longer than expected to arrive.
Read more here.
