Commercial Originations Remained Low in Third Quarter

Commercial and multifamily mortgage loan originations for the third quarter of 2009 were 12% lower than during the second quarter of 2009 and 54% lower than during the same period last year, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's quarterly survey of commercial/multifamily mortgage bankers originations. The 54% overall decrease in commercial/multifamily lending activity during the third quarter was driven by year-over-year decreases in originations for all property types. When compared to the third quarter of 2008, the total decrease included a 62% drop in loans for retail properties, a 59% decline in loans for health care properties, a 58% reduction in loans for industrial properties, a 56% fall-off in loans for office properties, a 46% drop in hotel property loans and a 40% decline in multifamily property loans. "Every investor group and property type saw year-over-year declines in origination volume," said Jamie Woodwell, MBA's vice president of commercial real estate research. However, third-quarter originations for office properties saw a 65% increase in third quarter from the second quarter. There was also a 49% increase for industrial properties, but a 32% decrease for hotel properties, an 18% decrease for health care properties, a 17% decrease for multifamily properties and a 14% decrease for retail properties.