Commercial lending

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

Already contending with stressed retail, hotel and restaurant loans, bankers are beginning to view office lending — historically a safe bet — as increasingly risky as companies of all types rethink their space needs.

The California company acquired Civic Financial Services, which makes loans to residential real estate investors.

The struggling movie-theater chain is among once-risky debt investments reaping big gains after day traders helped fuel the sudden stock surge.

The firm will invest in loans in health care, real estate, equipment and transportation, as well as corporate sectors backed by contractual cash flows, according to a statement Tuesday.

Commercial real estate portfolios have held up better than expected during the pandemic. But rising delinquencies and fears of a delayed economic recovery are renewing questions about credit quality.

The recent stimulus law’s relief for renters and extension of the federal eviction ban were meant to ward off a housing crisis. But owners of 1- to 4-unit dwellings still face mounting mortgage and property tax debts, and delinquencies could start rising soon — followed by foreclosures.

Reports indicate distressed owners would rather surrender their hotel or retail properties instead of negotiate workouts on delinquent loans as the pandemic spread carries on.

The river of red ink will likely begin to flow in the new year, due not only to the pandemic itself, but also to longer-term secular trends that have been accelerated by COVID-induced changes in the economy, says DebtX President and CEO Kingsley Greenland.

The architects of two major loan deals featuring Black banks, one involving multiple lenders and a pro sports franchise and another backed by Citigroup, say more transactions like these are in the works.

The Biden administration could curtail federal support for farmers, even with bankruptcies and requests for loan workouts on the rise. Banks are hoping that increases in crop prices and exports to China could help avert a credit crisis.

People with scores below 500 are often in communities that suffer the most from economic hardship and violence. Banks and regulators can do more to qualify them for financing, ultimately creating healthier local economies.

The Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility was brought back to inject $100 billion into the pandemic-battered economy, but only a fraction has been disbursed. Yet experts, pointing to its calming effects on markets, recommend that it be extended into next year.

Brookfield and JV partner Swig Co. are refinancing debt and cashing out $200M in equity in the iconic, sloped-base midtown Manhattan office tower.

And an uptick from second-quarter numbers is attributed to seasonality rather than any upswing in the economy.

Lenders pushed back against the notion that city dwellers' pandemic-driven flight to suburbia would hurt them. They say fewer landlords have sought deferrals as vacancy rates remain low and rent collections have stabilized.

The bank operating system’s integration with a technology platform for construction loans adds to indications of nCino’s increasing relevance to real estate-secured lending.

The predominantly white universe of real estate investors may be used to working with people and companies with enough financial resources to have a track record in the business, but historic inequities have limited those opportunities for Black executives.

Providers, including investors in low-income housing tax credits, have become hesitant to make deals.

Deferrals may be hiding credit issues, leading lenders to track deposit flows, property maintenance and other factors to gauge the true health of their portfolios.