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Review of Financial Studies Vol. 33 No. 11 2020

Safe Collateral, Arm’s-Length Credit: Evidence from the Commercial Real Estate Market

Lamont Black1; John Krainer2; Joseph Nichols2

1 DePaul University · 2 Federal Reserve Board of Governors

Abstract

Two main creditors exist in commercial real estate: arm’s-length investors and banks. We model commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) as the less informed source of credit. In equilibrium, these investors fund properties with a low probability of distress, and banks fund properties that may require renegotiation. As a natural experiment, we test the model using the collapse of the CMBS market during 2007–2009, when banks funded both collateral types. Our results show that properties likely to have been securitized were less likely to default or be renegotiated. This suggests that securitization in this market funds safe collateral.

DOI
10.1093/rfs/hhaa031
Volume
33
Issue
11
Pages
5173-5211
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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