A Fitch report released Friday morning suggests the growth rate for CMBS loan transfers into special servicing continues to slow, but some property sectors are doing better than others.
“There’s more liquidity in the market,” Mary MacNeill, managing director, Fitch, told this publication, when asked what might be driving improvements.
Overall transfers of this type should continue to grow at a slower rate. “In the office sector, though, I think we will see additional loans going into special servicing,” MacNeill said.
CMBS loan transfers into special servicing reached a high of 255 in January 2010, contributing to a total of 631 for the first quarter of last year, according to Fitch. This contrasts with the roughly 200 transfers seen so far in the first quarter of this year.
While January 2010 was unusual and generally loan transfers continue to increase, the rate of increase has been trending toward improvement or at least points to the beginnings of some stabilization, the Fitch report suggests.
Other than an exceptional low of 74 in November 2010, the monthly rate of increase has generally trended downward since January of that year, never exceeding 78, according to Fitch.
Office loans continue to lead new transfers due to continuing unemployment and lack of job growth. Fitch said transfers in the hotel sector, in contrast, have dropped off sharply.
