Blackstone Frets As Earnings Plunge 36%

The ongoing commercial real estate slowdown has a new victim: Blackstone, the largest owner of commercial real estate globally.

Photo Insert: The real estate market is reeling. Blackstone Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Stephen A. Schwarzman

The company saw its distributable earnings — the profit distributed to shareholders after expenses — plunge 36% since last year. That’s raising eyebrows on Wall Street as investors assess the fallout from last month’s regional banking crisis, Nicole Goodkind reported for CNN.

Blackrock’s decline was driven by an easing of value in its real estate investments. The company’s real estate segment’s distributable earnings fell 58% since last year.

Profits from sales fell 54% to $4.4 billion, down from $9.5 billion last year, for the amount of total commercial real estate assets sold. But that number is a reflection of fewer assets sold, not necessarily of lower prices, a spokesperson for Blackstone told CNN.

After decades of thriving growth bolstered by low interest rates and easy credit, the $20 trillion commercial real estate industry has seemingly hit a wall.

Office and retail property valuations have been falling since the pandemic brought about lower occupancy rates and changes in where people work and how they shop.

The Federal Reserve’s efforts to fight inflation by raising interest rates have also hurt the credit-dependent industry. Recent banking stress has added to those woes.

Lending to commercial real estate developers and managers largely comes from small and midsize banks, where the pressure on liquidity has been most severe. About 80% of all bank loans for commercial properties come from regional banks, according to Goldman Sachs economists.

WEEKLY FEATURE : MVP Group Keeps Lights On During Pandemic