A snapshot of Australian bank/super fund exposure to commercial real estate
Commercial property prices have fallen sharply in most advanced economies over the past year or two, with Green Street Advisors calculating 20%-plus declines in the US and euro area and the RBA estimating a roughly 10% decline in Australia as at late 2023.
Against this backdrop, CCI has taken a snapshot of the exposure of Australian banks and super funds to commercial property and infrastructure.
In aggregate, bank loans to commercial real estate have reached about $0.4 trillion, edging up to 13% of total bank loans over the past couple of years.
This is a little above the 12% average of the past two decades, but well below the 17% peak reached during the global financial crisis.
However, there is a marked divergence in the exposure of different banks.
The exposure of foreign banks continues to trend higher and has reached a series-high 21% of their local loan book.
The exposure of the major domestic banks has edged up to 10% of their loans, while commercial real estate loans written by small domestic banks make up only 4% of their loans.
In comparison, superannuation fund holdings of commercial real estate and infrastructure currently total over $0.35 trillion.
While super fund holdings are a little smaller in dollar terms, the exposure of pension funds is greater than banks when expressed as a share of assets.
Across the pension system, commercial property and infrastructure – where most of it is unlisted – currently accounts for 16% of total super fund assets, which is at the high end of the range of a relatively short history.
Commercial property and infrastructure accounts for 19% of industry fund
assets, 16% of public sector fund assets and 10% of retail sector assets.
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