10 years since Lehman

Robert Johnson, managing director for Asia-Pacific real estate at JPMorgan Global Alternatives, tells our sister publication, PERE, why Japan is in a healthier lending environment today than 10 years ago.

On the 10th anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the real estate debt industry is in better shape, but lenders can never become complacent again.

The impact of the global financial crisis for the real estate sector was first shocking, then painful and, finally, educational.

A handful of organisations found they were unencumbered by their pre-crisis dealings, able to recognise bottoming conditions and could access the capital to get investing again. They became the post-crisis winners.

Property markets the world over were hit, but some transactions weighed on events – or were shaped by them – more than most. Real Estate Capital and our sister title PERE pick 10 that had the biggest impact.

When Lehman Brothers failed, banks’ real estate lending units pulled down the shutters. The implications are still being dealt with a decade later.

A decade after the largest financial bankruptcy in US history, the private real estate industry has been reshaped by tough lessons learnt. In this first of a series of features, we examine the impact of the collapse of Lehman Brothers on global real estate.