Quarterly commercial mortgage originations
were stronger, with life insurer production at its highest level in at least nearly a decade and a half.
Commercial real estate lending activity among all types of lenders moved up three percent between the second and third quarters of this year.
Even more impressive was the year-over-year ascension, with CRE loan volume elevating 12 percent compared to the third quarter of last year.
The details were outlined in the
Mortgage Bankers Association’s third-quarter 2015 Quarterly Survey of Commercial/Multifamily Mortgage Bankers Originations.
Based on MBA’s previously reported $400 billion in commercial mortgage production for all of 2014 and using the change in the Origination Volume Index, estimated third-quarter 2015 production was $120 billion.
CRE lending was an estimated $116 billion three months earlier and $106 billion a year earlier.
For all three quarters so far in 2015, commercial mortgage originations total an estimated $336 billion.
Compared to the second quarter, originations were up 22 percent for commercial mortgage-backed securities and conduits. But the securitized sector suffered an eight percent year-over-year drop.
Life insurance companies pushed third-quarter volume up 13 percent from the previous report and 18 percent from the year-earlier report.
Based on an Origination Volume Index of 391 for the third-quarter 2015, life insurers had the highest level of activity since at least 2001 based on the oldest MBS CRE data maintained by Mortgage Daily.
CRE loan originations at commercial banks rose nine percent on a quarter-over-quarter basis and were 93 percent better on a year-over-year basis.
Based on a review of historical data from MBA, it was the strongest quarter for CRE loan business at banks since the fourth quarter of 2007.
The only investor group to see less production was Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac, where commercial mortgage production tumbled 28 percent from the second-quarter 2015.
Business at the government-controlled enterprises was off just three percent from the third-quarter 2014.
Fannie and Freddie are big into multifamily lending, which was down eight percent for all lenders from the second quarter. But multifamily production was 11 percent higher than the same three-month period last year.
The origination of office property loans climbed 37 percent from the last report and ascended 17 percent from the same quarter last year.
A 27 percent gain from the second quarter was recorded for loans secured by retail properties. This type of lending was 39 percent higher than a year previous.
Health care property lending inched up five percent but was down 30 percent from a year prior.
Loans made on industrial properties totaled one percent less than three months previous but were up 10 percent from 12 months previous.
Hotel lending saw a 29 percent plunge in the latest period, though the tumble was less than the nine percent drop versus a year earlier.
