Kinda concerned about goings on in the US #Realestate market. For example, from The Economist: “As the value of offices slumped, the loan-to-value ratios of #mortgages attached to them rose. That left banks holding riskier loans and drove up their own loan-to-value ratios—a closely watched measure of #FinancialHealth. As the banks have pared back lending, a variety of alternative lenders with higher risk appetites have stepped in. This year #Blackstone, a private-investment giant, raised $8bn for its joint-largest real-estate fund, which will hunt out distressed properties. Brookfield Asset Management, another investment firm, raised almost $6bn for its own new real-estate fund. This trend is set to continue. Moody’s, a credit-rating firm, expects about $1trn-worth of commercial property mortgages in Europe and America to shift to new private creditors over the next three to five years.” So #banks are overextended & #PrivateEquity is stepping up to fill the void. What could go wrong? #economy #finance