Billionaire Barry Sternlicht Predicts Weekly Bank Closures As The Real Estate Sector Battles High Interest Rates And Inflation

Craig Barritt/Getty ImagesBillionaire Barry Sternlicht is worried about America's regional and community banks.Sternlicht told CNBC that banks may bear the consequences of the real estate crisis.Only one bank has closed so far this year, but Sternlicht said more could be coming.Billionaire Barry Sternlicht offered an ominous prediction about America's regional banks amid a coming commercial real estate reckoning.The Starwood Capital Group CEO told CNBC on Tuesday that he thinks real estate's primary lenders — regional and community banks — could soon be bearing the brunt of high interest rates and inflation."You're going to see a regional bank fail every day, or not — every week, maybe two a week," Sternlicht said.There are more than 4,000 regional and community banks throughout the US, many of which may not have the cash flow to handle major loan losses on real estate debt.Problems have been pummeling the entirety of the real estate sector, but commercial real estate, in particular, has been struggling due to the rise of remote and hybrid work, leading to more and more vacancies.Sternlicht has been ringing the warning bells for more than two years, calling the situation an "existential crisis" in a January Bloomberg interview.