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Asset Fire Sales by Banks: Evidence from Commercial REO Sales

The Review of Corporate Finance Studies 2015 5(1), cfv005
I study asset fire sales by commercial banks during the financial crisis. Specifically, I find that banks with lower liquidity levels post lower asking prices, receive lower sale prices, and are less likely to sell REO properties to natural buyers. Further analysis shows that the results are unlikely to be driven by omitted variables related to local conditions, property characteristics, or bank characteristics. To establish causality, I use the losses banks incur due to house price drops as the instrument for bank liquidity and find similar results in two-stage least-squares instrumental variable regressions.