Two Area Firms Spotlight REIT Problems: Two Firms Show REIT Problems
The ravages ot inflation on some real estate invesi-ment trusts was demon* strated sharply yesterday with reports by two area tirms, showing significant increases in potential loan losses:</br></br>The ravages ot inflation on some real estate invesi-ment trusts was demon* strated sharply yesterday with reports by two area tirms, showing significant increases in potential loan losses: Û¢	First Virginia Mortgage and Real Estate Investment Trust of Falls Church, whose advisory firm is a subsidiary of First Virginia Bnnkshares Corp., revealed that about 21 per cent of all its loans are not accruing interest or are in foreclosure.</br></br>Û¢	Commonwealth National Realty Trust of Rockville, established and advised by a subsidiary of Maryland National Corp., posted a loss of $1.78 million for the nine months ended Aug. 31, and increased its provision for potential loan losses to about $1.5 million from $990,000.</br></br>holding company which controls tlie largest bank in Northern Virginia, and by Marynat. which owns Maryland National Bank, largest in the Free State.</br></br>Ever since, record costs of borrowing money and a lack of permanent mortage funds have caused a growing number of defaults on building projects by developers, who canÛªt pay off loans on timeÛÓ aml'many of the loans came from the real estate investment trust industry.