CMBS issuance hits nearly 20-year peak in 2025

Issuance of commercial mortgage-backed securities hit a nearly 20-year high last year.

Domestic, private-label originators issued $125.6 billion worth of CMBS loans across 173 deals, a 21 percent increase compared to the year before, according to data from Trepp. That dollar volume was the highest since 2007, when CMBS issuance reached $230.5 billion.

About three-quarters of last year’s issuance — not including collateralized loan obligations —  stemmed from single-asset, single-borrower deals, which signal that investors continue to finance trophy properties with lower risk. This type of deal has made up the bulk of issuance over the past decade, according to Trepp. In 2025, there were 127 deals totaling about $91.2 billion, which was up from 110 deals totaling about $71.2 billion in 2024.

The largest SASB deal last year was BX Commercial Mortgage Trust 2025-VOLT, a refinancing of a $3.4 billion loan backing data centers. 

CMBS deals backed by office buildings had the highest balance issued last year, at nearly $29 billion. That was up year over year by almost 207 percent, underscoring the shifting demand for office properties as the asset class continues to emerge from the pandemic-era crash.

Office properties comprised just over 23 percent of CMBS deals in 2025, a more than 175 percent year over year increase. That was the greatest annual change among sectors’ shares, aside from those that Trepp categorized as “other.”

Meanwhile, CMBS issuers pulled away from financing health care assets. Deals backing that type of property totaled $278 million, just 0.22 percent of all deals last year. That was a drop from 2024’s $875.5 million total balance.

Wells Fargo Securities continued to hold on to the most market share among the top bookrunners. Last year, Wells Fargo deals comprised nearly 19 percent of the market, for a total of $23.6 billion. That was an increase from 2024’s total of about $17 billion, which made up more than 16 percent of the market.