UK banks face £70bn property black hole

[Massimo]

UK banks face £70bn property black hole
http://www.propertyweek.com/story.asp?storycode=3130569&origin=PWdailynews

Britain's banks face up to £70bn of losses on commercial property loans, 
enough to force some of them into a further round of taxpayer bail-outs.

Investment bank Close Brothers forecasts massive write-downs in light of 
its forecast 50-60% slump in commercial property values by the end of 2009
compared to the market’s 2007 peak. Most property experts believe such 
values have already dropped 30% this year.
Such write-downs could again imperil banks’ capital ratios, potentially 
forcing them once more to go cap in hand to the Government.

UK banks are particularly exposed, having fuelled the commercial 
property sector boom by lending as much as 95% of a property’s value to 
private investors.