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Notes -
People need homes, they don't need office space. Some businesses moving online or to cheaper areas does not eliminate demand for housing. These are related but not that well correlated. Although VC is down in SF, it is not out:
https://sfstandard.com/research-data/san-francisco-top-vc-venture-capital-deals-investors-firms-2022/
Demand for housing is much more stable compared to supply and demand for commercial real estate. Layoffs can create huge, sudden vacancies.
I'm only loosely familar with commercial real estate lending (I did residential lending) but a major difference is that commercial lenders typically require market LTV maintenance whis means ~ margin calls. If your property tanks by 50% in current market value, your bank is going to call you & demand cash.
Now, they won't intentionally drive a performing loan account into bankruptcy. Banks are worse at liquidating siezed collateral than the original owner, and in any case really just want the loan payments. But if you have a generally solvent business, or you have lots of personal assets & gave personal guarantees (and most small businesses have to) they will absolutely make you shoulder the volatility risk and take your savings to pay down the loan to a % they are comfortable with. You can take the equity back out if & when the proprty appreciates again.
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