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Through the second quarter of 2025, outstanding commercial real estate debt in the U.S. hit $4.8 trillion, led by banks and thrifts and followed by government-sponsored enterprises.
Banks and thrifts, such as credit unions, held nearly 38 percent of the country’s commercial real estate debt, with a total of $1.83 trillion, according to an analysis of Federal Reserve data by research firm Trepp. GSEs, like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, followed, with some 22 percent of the market, totaling $1.08 trillion.
All but one of the lending institutions studied by Trepp had seen their CRE debt balances rise year over year. Finance companies lowered their balance by 2.2 percent, whereas pension plans had the biggest jump in their CRE debt, of almost 12 percent year over year.
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The balance for securitized loans increased 3.6 percent in the second quarter compared to the year before, likely because these lenders are seeing increased investor demand for CRE debt that is backed by larger properties with stabilized cash flows and the ability to better handle high interest rates, according to Trepp.
Securitized lenders in 2025 had the greatest share of its loans set to mature — just under 15 percent, or about $106 billion — among the top institutional lenders, per Trepp data. In 2026, just over 23 percent of securitized debt, totaling around $164 billion, is set to mature.
In 2027, banks will have the greatest percentage of loans expected to mature that year. Looking further down the line past 2030, debt held by insurance firms and GSEs will have almost half of their debt due. While this stems from the nature of the types of loans these institutions offer, it does raise uncertainties about the long-term performance and valuations of the properties this debt underpins, per Trepp.