Category: Commercial Real Estate

Lending a Helping Hand, Sometimes Means Lending.

Loan volumes at the nation’s community banks grew over 10% during 2020. And that’s no coincidence. With help from the Government’s Paycheck Protection Plan (PPP) Program, Commercial & Industrial (C&I) Loans accounted for more than two-thirds of that growth. But…

Two Days, Two Divergent Opinions, Who’s Right?

On Monday, March 15th, The Wall Street Journal ran a very upbeat article entitled, “U.S. Banks Will Turn Last Year’s Fear Into This Year’s Profits”. The article opines that the tens of billions of dollars that were set aside by…

We Analyze Banks & Credit Unions ...very carefully

Nation’s Banks, CUs Standing Strong, So Far

Coral Gables, Florida, March 17, 2021 Coral Gables, FL: BAUERFINANCIAL, Inc., the nation’s premier Bank and Credit Union rating firm, remains cautiously optimistic about the condition of our nation’s banks and credit unions. Net income was down in 2020 as…

She’s Back… What will Dr. Yellen Bring?

Note: Since this article was written, Janet Yellen was confirmed (84-15) and was sworn in as the first Female Treasury Secretary in U.S. history on Tuesday morning. The original story follows: Janet Yellen has not been confirmed yet, but we…

Loans: a Bank’s Best Asset, Until They’re Not

Although business models vary, the optimal loan to deposit ratio (LTD) at a bank is generally considered to be between 80% to 90%. At this level, the bank is lending sufficiently for its size, but not so much that its…

Diversify, Diversify, Diversify

We have been focusing quite a bit lately on commercial real estate (CRE) ghost malls and the like, and with good reason. But, imagine a scenario where a bank had 56% of its loans in CRE and another 26% in…

Changing Habits, Closing Stores

As the nation’s bank rating firm, it’s Bauer’s job to stay on top of things like Commercial Real Estate (CRE). While not automatically a sign of impending trouble, too much of anything (i.e. concentration in one type, growth, bad loans,…

No Bust Yet in Multi-Family Real Estate

Last week we promised a closer look at multi-family (5 or more) residential real estate. To that end, the 50 banks with the most exposure to multi family home loans (as a percent of total loans) can be found on…

Commercial Real Estate Under the Spotlight

In the current environment of high unemployment and moratoriums on foreclosures and evictions, we will be delving deeply into the aspects of Commercial Real Estate (CRE). CRE loans are comprised of multifamily (five or more) residential real estate, office buildings,…

We’re All Afraid of Ghost Malls

Commercial Real Estate (CRE) loans are comprised of multifamily (five or more) residential real estate, office buildings, shopping malls and most other structures that house businesses. All of which expanded along with the economy over the past several years. And…

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