CrediFi, a New York-based provider of commercial property data, is launching CMBS Suite, which it said is an information resource for lenders looking to refinance securitized commercial mortgages.
Originations of securitized commercial real estate mortgages are expected to increase in 2016 as loans produced in 2006 and 2007 reach their 10-year maturity date.
A survey conducted by the Mortgage Bankers Association found that 64% of commercial lenders who responded believe there will be more than 5% growth in CMBS volume during this year. Kroll Bond Rating Agency predicts
But the Kroll report also projects weaker underwriting standards for securitized loans. This product should help in making sounder lending decisions.
CMBS Suite includes data for both loans in securitizations as well as loans in bank portfolios, said CrediFi CEO Ely Razin, who said the other vendors only had information on securitized loans and not the balance sheet assets. The data includes borrower and current lender information on each property.
But what really separates CMBS Suite from the competition is that rather than showing data on a text screen, it overlays property details on a map. Users can filter details to include property performance data on the subject property as well as nearby properties. They can also bring up similar information on comparable properties. CrediFi has information on over 2 million properties nationwide, the bulk of which have loans in bank portfolios. Approximately 36,000 loans are in CMBS.
"We're kind of like finance for the Facebook generation and the way we build our products and user experience is so it ought to be much prettier and easier. We're showing you maps of neighborhoods, where you can see different kinds of assets you can filter through over that map. So you can get a rich picture for that what that neighborhood likes like," said Razin in an interview.
"The reason we are so focused on the maps is that when you are looking at the asset you want to see what's around it," he said. For example, if the property to be financed is an apartment house, lenders and investors might want to know what amenities are nearby such as restaurants to get an idea of the building's attractiveness. For office properties, they might want to know what retail is nearby. On the negative side, they also get information about nearby properties in default.
All this information is "in one place so it simplifies your workflow but it also gives you more insight than you would get looking at dry data in a financial table," Razin said.
