The Real Estate Management Institute (REMI) at the EBS University for Economics and Law in Oestrich-Winkel, Germany, and Corestate Capital AG of Zug, Switzerland, have embarked on a research project aimed at understanding better the issues associated with distressed real estate debt.

The volume of distressed debt is large. It is estimated that around e1.4 trillion of distressed commercial real estate assets are being marketed globally, and that a further e1.2 trillion of debt — e500 billion in Europe — is due to mature over the next four years.

“Banks have severely cut back on credit financings and focus, if at all, on low-risk lending,” says Ralph Winter, Core-state’s founder and chairman. “This trend is set to accelerate further and will lead to a sharp increase in non-performin