Not only did originators lift annual commercial real estate lending volume last year, they pushed it past the pre-crisis record level. Apartment lending led production.
Commercial mortgage bankers originated $530.1 billion in loans during 2017. The total included commercial and multifamily mortgages.
That turned out to be in excess of the record set a decade earlier in 2007, when there was $503.8 billion in CRE loan production.
The statistics were reported Monday by the Mortgage Bankers Association in its
2017 Commercial Real Estate/Multifamily Finance Annual Origination Volume Summation.
In 2016, commercial mortgage production came to $490.6 billion.
“2017 was a very strong year, driven by solid property fundamentals, rising property values, low interest rates, and a ready supply of mortgage capital all contributing to extraordinarily attractive finance markets,” MBA Vice President of Commercial Real Estate Research Jamie Woodwell said in the report. “We expect another robust year in 2018, even with the slight increase in interest rates, although perhaps not quite as robust as 2017.”
With $151.2 billion in total production, commercial banks were the biggest source of financing for commercial property owners. Next was Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with $130.0 billion in multifamily financing.
After that were issuers of commercial mortgage-backed securities; life insurance companies and pension funds; and real estate investment trusts, mortgage REITs and investment funds.
Multifamily originations during 2017 were $233.9 billion — the most of any property type.
Next were office buildings, then retail properties, hotels and motels, industrial properties and health care properties.
