Commercial real estate faces a brutal combo of higher rates, tighter lending, and looming debts - and the fallout could be disastrous, Goldman strategist says

• US commercial real estate faces higher interest rates, tighter lending, and maturing debts.
• The sector's woes may hit asset prices and spread to other industries, an expert at Goldman Sachs says.
• If authorities don't help, there could be severe fallout from the current situation, Jeff Fine said.

Brutal headwinds are buffeting US commercial real estate, threatening to hit prices and hammer the wider economy, Goldman Sachs strategists have warned.

The CRE sector is navigating a "nearly perfect storm" of much higher interest rates, a credit crunch, and about $1 trillion of debt maturing in the next 12 to 18 months, Jeffrey Fine said during a recent episode of the "Exchanges at Goldman Sachs" podcast.