Pandemic-era landlord investments at risk of failure.

Big money investors pumped billions into buying up apartment buildings during the pandemic era, based on the assumption that rents would continue to increase. However, rents are flatlining and expenses are increasing, leaving landlords to face big losses. Some of the most speculative investment deals were done with mortgages shoveled into a riskier part of the securitized-loan market known as commercial-real-estate collateralized loan obligations, or CRE CLOs, which could lead to delinquency rates increasing. Falling property prices have compounded the problems for investors, and as short-term debts come due, they will be difficult to swap with commensurately sized loans today, because of the falling values, higher interest rates, and lender caution.