'Outstanding Commercial/Multifamily Debt Inches Up'

Commercial and multifamily mortgage debt outstanding reached $2.845 trillion in the third quarter, an increase of 2.9% from the second quarter, the Mortgage Bankers Association reports, based on an analysis of the Federal Reserve's flow of funds data.Multifamily mortgage debt outstanding alone grew to $714 billion at the end of the third quarter, an increase of $10.8 billion or 1.5% from the second quarter, the MBA said. "Nearly every investor group increased their stake in commercial/multifamily mortgages in the third quarter," said Jamie Woodwell, MBA's senior director of commercial/multifamily research. Commercial banks hold the largest share of commercial and multifamily mortgages, with more than $1.2 trillion, or 44% of the total (this includes "commercial and industrial" loans as well as loans on income-producing commercial real estate). Commercial mortgage-backed securities issuers, collateralized debt obligations issuers and other asset-backed securities pools are the second largest holders of commercial and multifamily mortgages, at $583 billion, or 21% of the total.