2020s commercial real estate distress was a worldwide spike in commercial real estate distress that began in the 2020s in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and interest rates hikes by central banks in response to the 2021 inflation crisis. Although the increase in distress occurred globally it was most acute in the United States and China.
This spike in the number of properties at risk of foreclosure by lenders or of being returned to lenders by their owners, as well as general financial difficulty for REITs and other real estate firms—occurred due to several factors. These include changes in the habits of workers and consumers caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has decreased office occupancy and exacerbated the ongoing retail apocalypse, and interest rate hikes by central banks to combat the 2021-2023 inflation surge, which have increased the cost of borrowing and the cost of interest payments on variable rate loans.