The level of commercial/multifamily mortgage debt outstanding increased by $40.4 billion in the first quarter of 2015, as all four major investor groups increased their holdings. That is a 1.5 percent increase over the fourth quarter of 2014.
Total commercial/multifamily debt outstanding stood at $2.68 trillion at the end of the first quarter. Multifamily mortgage debt outstanding rose to $989 billion, an increase of $20.6 billion, or 2.1 percent, from the fourth quarter of 2014.
“Strong first quarter mortgage originations boosted the level of commercial and multifamily mortgage debt outstanding,” says Jamie Woodwell, MBA’s Vice President of Commercial Real Estate Research. “Multifamily mortgages continued to grow even more quickly than the market as a whole, with banks increasing their portfolios by $8 billion and agency and GSE portfolios and MBS increasing their holdings by $10 billion.”
The four major investor groups are: bank and thrift; commercial mortgage backed securities (CMBS), collateralized debt obligation (CDO) and other asset backed securities (ABS) issues; federal agency and government sponsored enterprise (GSE) portfolios and mortgage backed securities (MBS); and life Insurance companies.
The analysis summarizes the holdings of loans or, if the loans are securitized, the form of the security. For example, many life insurance companies invest both in whole loans for which they hold the mortgage note (and which appear in this data under Life Insurance Companies) and in CMBS, CDOs and other ABS for which the security issuers and trustees hold the note (and which appear here under CMBS, CDO and other ABS issues).
Commercial banks continue to hold the largest share of commercial/multifamily mortgages, $985 billion, or 37 percent of the total.
CMBS, CDO and other ABS issues are the second largest holders of commercial/multifamily mortgages, holding $534 billion, or 20 percent of the total. Agency and GSE portfolios and MBS hold $422 billion, or 16 percent of the total, and life insurance companies hold $363 billion, or 14 percent of the total. Many life insurance companies, banks and the GSEs purchase and hold CMBS, CDO and other ABS issues. These loans appear in the “CMBS, CDO and other ABS” category.
For more information, visit www.mba.org.
