NEW YORK CITY-Commercial real estate exposure was the main driver behind five bank failures in November, according to a new report from Trepp Inc. The shutdowns reflect a decrease from 11 failures in October and 13 in July, but the continuous spike in shuttered banks from quarter-to-quarter is beginning to show a pattern.

“We are seeing a seasonality or cyclicality to the pace of failures,” Trepp’s managing director Matthew Anderson tells GlobeSt.com. “There is a sharp uptick in the number of failures in the month immediately following quarter end. We saw spikes in April, July and October, and then the rate drops down a bit in the next two months and then picks back up again.”

While November showed a slowdown in the pace of closures, problematic CRE loans are still the source behind the problem. According to the report, CRE loans comprised 80.8% of the total $160 million in nonperforming loans at the failed banks. Out of that, the biggest problem for distressed banks is construction lending. Construction and land loans made up 64.4% of the total failures, while commercial mortgages comprised 16.5% of the total nonperforming pool.