Speaker: Alexei Tchistyi (Cornell)

Paper Title: Smaller Banks, Smarter Lending? Evidence from the Commercial Real Estate Market (joint with Eva Steiner and Atlas Wu)

Date: Wednesday 29th/Apr/2026 at 9:00 AM Eastern Time

Abstract:  We study the role of community banks in commercial real estate (CRE) lending during the Covid-19 pandemic, a period of heightened uncertainty in a market characterized by informational frictions. Using bank-level Call Reports, property-level loan data from MSCI, and leasing outcomes from Compstak, we compare lending decisions and associated outcomes of community and large banks during this period. We show that community banks increased CRE lending during the pandemic, primarily within their local markets, and in large part by financing properties previously funded by large banks. Community banks also experienced lower foreclosure rates on loans issued during this period and stronger operating performance of the properties financed. These findings are consistent with a model of banking competition in which community banks can leverage superior local information against the lower cost of capital of large banks when uncertainty is high.

Registration: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_qvyrCoGsRxeCSmmJTbVVLg#/registration