Commercial lending

The industry had tightened up last year in the face of COVID-19. But as the economic outlook improves, banks are now easing criteria amid heightened competition, according to the Federal Reserve’s survey of loan officers.

The lack of a stabilizing force in the commercial real estate mortgage business is creating one of the most significant threats the lending industry faces, writes the CEO of Cirrus.

Fears of a permanent exodus from office life may have been premature, according to a study that finds a majority of businesses plan changes, but no significant downsizing of space.

The owner of former Sears stores is looking to sell as many as 50 properties as it tries to generate cash and focus on the development of other sites it owns.

Growing CRE mortgage volumes raised the bar for the coming year despite lingering concerns, according to the CRE Finance Council.

Fears of widespread credit losses have largely subsided, but demand for new commercial real estate loans remains lackluster because many companies are sitting on so much cash they don’t need to borrow. Meanwhile, competition from private equity groups and other nonbank lenders is escalating.

Raising the capital gains tax and code changes could have more of an impact on the public debt market than rising interest rates, according to a panelist at the Urban Land Institute's Spring event.

While the government passed sweeping measures last year to prevent mass homelessness among renters, there was no targeted help for mom-and-pop property owners who provide much of America’s affordable housing.

A PIMCO-sponsored HELOC securitzation, as well as a mortgage-insurance linked transaction, are the latest examples of issuers getting a head start on switching to an expected replacement benchmark for Libor.

Like the fintechs SoFi and LendingClub, DLP Real Estate Capital is acquiring a community bank largely to lower the cost of funding loans.