A wave of commercial real estate loan failures could threaten financial system

The special panel set up by Congress to monitor the bank bailouts recently released a report (pdf) with some dire warnings:

Over the next few years, a wave of commercial real estate loan failures could threaten America‘s already-weakened financial system. The Congressional Oversight Panel is deeply concerned that commercial loan losses could jeopardize the stability of many banks, particularly the nation‘s mid-size and smaller banks, and that as the damage spreads beyond individual banks that it will contribute to prolonged weakness throughout the economy.

If this happens, expect interest rates to stay low for many years to come.

Hat tip to the reader Shorebreak who mentioned this news in the Open Discussion Thread.