WASHINGTON (Reuters) – White House economist Jared Bernstein said the Biden administration is closely tracking developments in commercial real estate after recent strains in the banking sector, given that many smaller and mid-sized banks have “non-trivial” holdings in commercial real estate.
Bernstein told the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs that occupancy rates in commercial real estate were well below pre-COVID levels and delinquincies had risen a bit recently, although they remained low in historical terms.
“The issue is very much on our watchlist,” Bernstein said during a hearing on his nomination to head the White House Council of Economic Advisers, when asked about the impact of the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) on the sector.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal)
