Commercial, Multifamily Mortgage Debt Outstanding Increased by $42.9B in Second Quarter

The level of commercial/multifamily mortgage debt outstanding increased by $42.9 billion (0.9%) in the second quarter of 2026, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s latest Commercial/Multifamily Mortgage Debt Outstanding quarterly report.

Total commercial/multifamily mortgage debt outstanding rose to $5.1 trillion at the end of the second quarter. Multifamily mortgage debt alone increased $20.7 billion (0.9%) to $2.3 trillion from the first quarter of 2026.

“Commercial and multifamily mortgage debt outstanding continued to expand in the second quarter, reaching a record $5.1 trillion as stronger borrowing activity and capital availability supported growth in the market,” said Reggie Booker, MBA’s Associate Vice President of Commercial Research. “Growth was broad-based across the major capital sources, with banks and thrifts, agency and GSE portfolios and MBS, and CMBS, CDO and other ABS all increasing their holdings. Multifamily debt also rose, reaching $2.3 trillion, with agency and GSE financing accounting for half of all outstanding multifamily mortgage debt. The continued increases across these capital sources point to a commercial real estate finance market that is steadily expanding its capacity to support property investment and refinancing activity.”

The four largest investor groups are: banks and thrifts; federal agency and government sponsored enterprise (GSE) portfolios and mortgage-backed securities (MBS); life insurance companies; and commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS), collateralized debt obligation (CDO) and other asset-backed securities (ABS) issues.

Commercial banks continue to hold the largest share (38%) of commercial/multifamily mortgages at $1.9 trillion. Agency and GSE portfolios and MBS are the second-largest holders of commercial/multifamily mortgages (23%) at $1.2 trillion. Life insurance companies hold $782 billion (15%), and CMBS, CDO and another other ABS issues hold $651 billion (13%). Many life insurance companies, banks and the GSEs purchase and hold CMBS, CDO and other ABS issues. These loans appear in the report in the “CMBS, CDO and other ABS” category.

MBA’s analysis summarizes the holdings of loans or, if the loans are securitized, the form of the security. For example, many life insurance companies invest both in whole loans for which they hold the mortgage note (and which appear in this data under Life Insurance Companies) and in CMBS, CDOs and other ABS for which the security issuers and trustees hold the note (and which appear here under CMBS, CDO and other ABS issues).

MULTIFAMILY MORTGAGE DEBT OUTSTANDING

Looking solely at multifamily mortgages in the second quarter of 2026, agency and GSE portfolios and MBS hold the largest share of total multifamily debt outstanding at $1.2 trillion (50%), followed by banks and thrifts with $668 billion (29%), life insurance companies with $269 billion (12%), state and local government with $99 billion (4%), and CMBS, CDO and other ABS issues holding $75 billion (3%).

CHANGES IN COMMERCIAL/MULTIFAMILY MORTGAGE DEBT OUTSTANDING

In the second quarter, CMBS, CDO and other ABS saw the largest gains in dollar terms in their holdings of commercial/multifamily mortgage debt – an increase of $13.9 billion (2.2%). Bank and thrifts increased their holdings by $13.3 billion (0.7%) and agency and GSE portfolios and MBS increased their holdings by $12.7 billion (1.1%). REITs decreased their holdings by $5.5 billion (6.3%).

In%age terms, CMBS, CDO and other ABS issues saw the largest increase – 2.2% – in their holdings of commercial/multifamily mortgages. Conversely, REITs saw their holdings decrease by 5.5%.

CHANGES IN MULTIFAMILY MORTGAGE DEBT OUTSTANDING

The $20.7 billion increase in multifamily mortgage debt outstanding from the first quarter of 2026 represents a quarterly gain of 0.9%. In dollar terms, agency and GSE portfolios and MBS saw the largest gain – $12.7 billion (1.1%) – in their holdings of multifamily mortgage debt. Life insurance companies increased their holdings by $4.2 billion (1.6%), and bank and thrifts increased by $2.4 billion (0.4%).

REITs saw the largest%age increase in their holdings of multifamily mortgage debt, up 7.5%. Finance companies saw the largest decline in their holdings of multifamily mortgage debt at 1.2%.

MBA’s analysis is based on data from the Federal Reserve Board’s Financial Accounts of the United States, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s Quarterly Banking Profile, and data from Trepp LLC. More information on this data series is contained in Appendix A.