By Scott Kanowsky
Investing.com -- Shares in Newmark Group Inc (NASDAQ:NMRK) climbed on Wednesday after the Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has tapped real estate firm Newmark Group Inc to sell about $60 billion in Signature Bank loans.
The move comes after the FDIC said last week that $38.4B in Signature's assets had been sold to regional lender New York Community Bancorp (NYSE:NYCB).
According to the WSJ, citing people familiar with the matter, Signature loans amounting to $60B were still left in FDIC receivership following that transaction. Those will be the loans Newmark will sell, the WSJ said.
Signature collapsed earlier this month following a spike in withdrawal requests that was sparked by the failure of start-up-focused lender Silicon Valley Bank. Nearly half of the total loans Signature had on its books at the end of 2022 were in real estate, particularly in commercial property mortgages, the WSJ said, quoting FDIC data.
Real estate executives and analysts told the WSJ that Newmark's sale of the Signature loans could establish a new price floor for a commercial property market already strained by elevated interest rates and a surge in the popularity of remote working after the pandemic.