🤑 The Office Collapse You Can Profit From
Empty Offices = $2 Trillion Time Bomb
Office building defaults just hit 2008 crash levels as work-from-home kills the cubicle economy.
More than 1 in 10 office loans are now going bad, and empty towers can't pay their bills.
Zombie foreclosures hit record highs too, with banks starting but never finishing the paperwork.
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Michigan leads the mess, but it's spreading as mortgage companies drop the ball everywhere.
Summer home sales flopped despite the season, with 7%+ rates keeping buyers away.
Even apartment buildings are cracking under pressure as landlords slash rents to survive.
In this edition of the AltReports:
🏢 Office defaults match 2008 financial crisis levels
🏚️ Michigan leads nation in abandoned foreclosures
📈 Mortgage rates above 7% crush buyer demand
🏢 Tenants dump 29 million sq ft in single quarter
💰 Higher rates squeeze apartment building owners
Video of the Week: They Said THIS WOULD NEVER HAPPEN...
Chart of the Week: CMBS Delinquency Rate Rises Modestly in May
Podcast of the Week: Something Strange is Happening in the Housing Market
Office CMBS Delinquencies Hit Crisis Peaks Again
Office mortgage-backed bonds went delinquent at a 10.6% clip in May, tying the worst stretch of the 2008 meltdown.
With defaults flooding back, lenders are finally admitting that empty cubicles and hybrid work are here to stay—and CRE’s safety net is unraveling.
Distressed-asset investors should brace for fire-sale opportunities as lenders scramble to offload toxic office paper.
💡 Investor Takeaway: Start circling top-tier office CMBS trading 30–40% off par before sellers cave in and discounts deepen.
Zombie Foreclosure Alert: Record Highs in Q2 2025
Zombie foreclosures spiked to a record 2.2% of all foreclosure starts in Q2 2025, led by Wayne County, MI at 4.0% and four other Michigan counties making the top ten.
Servicers are dropping the ball on paperwork and payments, leaving more homes rotting in legal limbo and dragging down local markets from the Rust Belt to the Southeast.
For distressed‐asset investors, these zombie hotspots are screaming “fire sale”—if you’ve got the stomach to untangle the title mess.
💡 Investor Takeaway: Lock in local title-clearing partners now to swoop on undervalued zombie properties before the cleanup crew moves in.
Summer Sizzle Isn’t Saving Housing
Mortgage rates stuck above 7% and rising inventory have stalled home-price gains to a sputter, despite a minor summer bump.
That temporary uptick is paper-thin—buyer demand is draining, pending sales are sliding, and builders are dangling concessions to move stale stock.
For distressed-asset hunters, the real feast is coming when ARMs reset and over-leveraged owners buckle, so start parking capital in note sales and pre-foreclosure plays now.
💡 Investor Takeaway: Line up non-performing loan pools in markets with high adjustable-rate resets for your next big payday.
Office Sector Implodes: 29 Million sqft Ghosted in Q1
Tenants dumped a net 29 million sq ft of office space in Q1, driving vacancy to record highs and swelling the sublease pipeline.
Landlords are slashing rents and drowning prospects in concessions, torching valuations for anything less than A-grade.
That creates a buffet of maturing CMBS, loan defaults, and conversion targets for distressed investors to cherry-pick at basement prices.
💡 Investor Takeaway: Load up on maturing CMBS debt for B/C-class offices in gateway cities—fire-sale pricing is imminent.
Q1 saw commercial multifamily delinquency rates nudge up to 1.4%, the first uptick in over a year as higher rates squeeze borrowers.
What was rock-solid is wobbling, spooking lenders into forcing margins and starving shaky landlords of liquidity.
That means more distressed collateral hitting the bid boards—prime territory for you to swoop in and negotiate knock-down prices.
💡 Investor Takeaway: Stockpile capital and pounce on special-servicing multifamily loans early.