MBA: Commercial/MF Debt Rises

Commercial and multifamily mortgage debt outstanding increased 2.9% to $2.17 trillion in the second quarter, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association."The second quarter marks the greatest single-quarter increase in the amount of commercial/multifamily debt," said Doug Duncan, the MBA's chief economist. "With moderate economic growth, low delinquencies, and moderate interest rate increases, the trend is likely to continue." Commercial banks hold the largest share of these mortgages, at $919 billion (42% of the total), the MBA said. (This includes the category of "commercial and industrial" loans that have commercial and multifamily property as collateral.) Commercial mortgage-backed securities issuers hold $392 billion (18%) of the total, followed by life insurance companies, which hold $250 billion (11.5%) of the debt. Government-sponsored enterprises hold $116 billion of the debt in the form of multifamily mortgages that back the securities they issue and also hold $49 billion of the debt in their own portfolios, for a total share of 7.6%. The MBA can be found online at http://www.mortgagebankers.org.