Billionaire Barry Sternlicht Expects Weekly Bank Failure 

Barry Sternlicht, the billionaire real estate investor and CEO of Starwood Capital, recently claimed that he expects one bank failure per week in the United States. Indeed, Sternlicht raised concern about more than 4,000 banks in the United States, citing persistent interest rates and inflation pressures.

Sternlicht predicted that community and regional banks would have difficulties due to various macroeconomic variables. In a recent interview with CNBC, he stated that a regional bank might fail “every week, maybe two times a week.”

Real Estate Billionaire Expects Banking Issues

The United States has dealt with an increasingly fragile economy throughout the year. Indeed, the Federal Reserve launched a two-year tightening campaign, raising interest rates to combat excessive inflation. The Central Bank has yet to decrease interest rates, and many analysts predict this will hurt the economy.

One of them is millionaire real estate investor Barry Sternlicht, who predicts one bank catastrophe every week. On CNBC, the co-founder of the $115 billion Starwood Capital Group offered his pessimistic outlook for the current situation of interest rates and their impact on smaller banks.

First Republic Bank collapsed in 2023, and it was well documented. The regional lender in the Northeast had roughly $6 billion in assets and $4 billion in deposits. Indeed, the bank was the first of many potential casualties due to high interest rates and extensive real estate holdings.

Sternlicht has been a consistent voice, expressing concern about the rising interest rate’s impact on real estate and banks. He was among the first to predict a recession for the US economy in 2022 when the tightening campaign began.