In the first half of 2025, commercial mortgage-backed securities issuance from private lenders rose 35 percent from the year before.
The total for the first six months came in at nearly $60 billion, which is the highest amount in about 15 years, according to data from real estate finance research firm Trepp.
However, private-label CMBS issuance dropped by 41 percent in the second quarter from the quarter before to just over $22 billion, per Trepp.
In 2024, CMBS issuance totaled roughly $104 billion, which was 165 percent higher than 2023’s level. Last year was also the third-highest level of issuance since at least 2000. The peak year was 2007, when total CMBS issuance was about $231 billion, followed by 2021, when issuance was about $109 billion.
Wells Fargo Securities was the top private-label CMBS bookrunner in the first half of the year, making up about 18 percent of the market. The firm was behind 34 deals totalling about $10.7 billion. Wells Fargo’s activity in the first half of the year was greater than it was in the first half of 2024, when its balance was about $6.7 billion and the firm occupied about 16 percent of the market.
In the first six months of 2025, Wells Fargo Bank was also the No. 1 CMBS loan contributor. The bank so far this year has provided about $10.2 billion in loans, making up 17 percent of the market share.
Wells Fargo Bank also was the top contributor in the first half of 2024. However, its 2025 balance so far is about 51 percent higher than it was during the same time last year.
However, delinquency rates also rose in the first half of the year. Trepp reported that in April, the CMBS delinquency rate was just over 7 percent — a benchmark that the market had not reached since January 2021. Multifamily- and lodging-backed CMBS loans led the delinquent loans.
Securitized loans tied to multifamily properties in New York also have seen more distress of late. In March, the distress rate for the sector more than doubled to 14.4 percent over the past two years. Almost all of the properties underpinning these loans have some level of rent restriction.
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