Commercial property prices and bank performance

We seek to assess the relationship between commercial property price movements and the behavior and performance of individual banks in a range of industrialized economies, extending the existing micro literature on bank performance. Our results suggest that commercial property prices tend to be positively associated with bank lending and profitability, and negatively associated with banks' net interest margin and bad loan ratios. Further extensions show that the degree to which such a relationship holds is related to the size of the bank. The results underline the relevance of commercial property prices as a macroprudential variable that warrants scrutiny by the authorities. (C) 2009 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.