Before collateralized mortgage-backed securities, one of the best
sources of real estate mortgages came from insurance companies. The
Mortgage Bankers Association estimates that approximately $222 billion
in direct mortgage loans are held by life insurance companies maturing
through 2018. Earlier this month, Commercial Mortgage Alert noted that loan originations
by the 30 insurance organizations with the largest mortgage portfolios
plunged by 35 percent in 2009, to $36.7 billion from $56.8 billion last
year, according to its annual survey of lending by life insurers. The
report notes that the total value of outstanding loans by these 30 insurers
is $260.8 billion, a slight increase of 3.7 percent from the prior
year. [more]