MBA: 2022 Commercial/Multifamily Lending Down 8%

Total commercial real estate mortgage borrowing and lending fell to $816 billion in 2022, an 8 percent decrease from the record $891 billion in 2021 but a 33 percent increase from $614 billion in 2020, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Thursday.

The MBA 2022 Commercial Real Estate/Multifamily Finance Annual Origination Volume Summation reported the 2022 total was still the second-highest on record. Excluding activity from smaller and mid-sized depositories not directly captured in its survey, commercial and multifamily mortgage bankers closed $595 billion of loans in 2022 – 13 percent less than the $683.2 billion reported in 2021.

“Borrowing and lending backed by commercial and multifamily properties started 2022 strong but then dropped off because of rising interest rates, uncertainty about property values and increased questions about the economy and some property fundamentals,” said Jamie Woodwell, MBA Head of Commercial Real Estate Research. “Bank lending ran against the trend, increasing by 12 percent to $409 billion. A key question for 2023 is when the market will have stabilized enough for the logjam in new deal activity to break.”

Multifamily properties saw the highest volume last year, at $437 billion of total lending and $333 billion of mortgage bankers’ originations. First liens accounted for 93 percent of the mortgage bankers’ dollar volume closed.

Depositories were the leading capital source, accounting for $408 billion of total commercial/multifamily lending in 2022 and $189 billion in mortgage bankers originations. Government-sponsored enterprises (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) saw the second highest total volume at $128 billion, followed by life insurance company and pension funds, private label CMBS, and investor-driven lenders.

For a copy of the report, please visit MBA’s Online Store at: https://www.mba.org/news-and-research/research-and-economics/commercial-multifamily-research/annual-origination-volume-summation.