The banks go marking to market

Blackstone Group LP (BX) raised more than $4 billion in 2009 to buy European property assets anticipating that cash-strapped banks would be forced to sell as the region’s debt crisis worsened. Almost all of it sat idle for two years. Today, the inaction has given way to a surge of deals, as lenders from Lloyds Banking Group Plc (LLOY) to Commerzbank AG (CBK) cut loose soured real estate, corporate and consumer loans. Sales of loan portfolios and other unwanted assets by European Union banks could reach 60 billion euros ($82 billion) in face value this year, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, the most since the firm began tracking data in 2010. Bloomberg

European banks contracting their portfolios and dumping real estate on the market. THis in turn causes brokers to agglomerate chunks of cash. Notice the economies of scale take effect, the whole scenario is about getting it all done with the fewest amount of trades, agglomerate the trade, create a system of optimum flow.