JPMorgan, Wells Fargo up hotel lending

JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo are planning to increase their investments in the lodging sector after realizing that financing hotel projects in the present market isn’t as risky as financing other types of commercial real estate, Bloomberg News reported. Data from Trepp shows that lenders lost around 53 percent of their investments on non-performing hotel loans during the first nine months of this year, compared with 57 percent for office loans, 61 percent for multi-family loans, 62 percent for industrial loans and 63 percent for retail property loans. And with hotel property values on an upswing amid increased occupancy and revenue per available room rates, “right now is a particularly attractive time to be lending to the hotel sector,” said Christopher Jordan, who leads Wells Fargo’s hospitality banking division. Jon Strain, head of capital markets in JPMorgan’s commercial real estate group, said the company is also “definitely making loans on hotels.” [Bloomberg]