Recent defaults on five commercial mortgages with balances of more than $100 million caused the CMBS delinquency rate to increase 23-basis points in August to 8.48%, according to a new report from Fitch Ratings.
But the rating agency believes that recent loan resolutions are tempering the number somewhat, noting that $2.1 billion of commercial mortgages were "resolved or liquidated last month."
Fitch senior director Adam Fox said that although specialty servicers "are working out loans at an increased rate, the volume of new delinquencies has not yet subsided."
He added that, "Highly levered loans originated at the market's peak continue to default as borrowers seek modifications or hand back the keys to underperforming assets."
Earlier in the week Trepp LLC, New York, said the delinquency rate on commercial mortgages contained in CMBS increased by 21 basis points in August (from July) to 8.92%.
Late payments on commercial mortgages are about 100 basis points lower than the delinquency rate for residential loans.
In August, three Fitch-rated loans in excess of $100 million became newly delinquent due to performance issues, including a $140 million mortgage on the Hyatt Regency in Bethesda, Md., which is just outside one of the healthier hotel markets in the nation: Washington, D.C.
