Banks As Real Estate Developers

Today’s Daily Record featured an article entitled “Realtors Fearful As Banks Move Into Real Estate Development” (subscription) discussing recent interpretive letters issued by the Office of The Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) permitting banks to get involved in the real estate sales and development market. Critics argue such a move would give banks a monopoly on the real estate market. The OCC’s four Interpretive Letters, published in December of 2005, feature two previously unpublished letters from 1993 (Interpretive Letter 1042 and 1043) and two from ’05 (Interpretive Letter 1044 and 1045).