Commercial property confronts the ‘comedown’ from easy money

Behind the glittery facades of London’s Selfridges and New York’s Chrysler Building, Austrian property billionaire René Benko assembled a financial time bomb.Benko’s Signa Group, which bought stakes in the two trophy assets and amassed a €27bn ($29bn) property portfolio, racked up at least €13bn in debt during the years when the cost of borrowing was next to nothing.“He gorged himself on cheap financing left, right and centre,” said one European property executive.The decision to..