According to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) latest Commercial/Multifamily Mortgage Debt Outstanding quarterly report, commercial and multifamily mortgage debt outstanding grew 6.8 percent year-on-year to $216 billion at the end of 2018.

MBA’s report found that total mortgage debt outstanding in the final three months of 2018 rose by 2.1 percent ($68.5 billion) compared to the previous quarter, with all four major investor groups increasing their holdings. Multifamily mortgage debt grew $32.2 billion (2.4 percent) to $1.36 trillion over the same period.

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

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Commercial Multifamily Mortgage Debt Outstanding By Investor Group, Fourth Quarter 2018 ;

Banks and thrifts (39 percent)-$1.3 trillion,

Agency,GSE portfolios and MBS (20 percent)- $675 billion

Life insurance companies (15 percent)- $509 billion

CMBS, CDO and other ABS issues (14 percent)- $466 billion

Others (11,9 percent)- $405,2 bilion

The total commercial and multifamily mortgage debt outstanding, by quarter, reached $3.39 trillion.

”The largest annual increase in commercial and multifamily mortgage debt outstanding since the Great Recession..”

“2018 recorded the largest annual increase in commercial and multifamily mortgage debt outstanding since the Great Recession, and the largest increase in multifamily mortgage debt on record,” said Jamie Woodwell, MBA’s Vice President of Research & Economics.

“Growth in multifamily mortgage debt made up almost half the total increase in debt outstanding, and Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA collectively accounted for two-thirds of the multifamily growth. The GSEs, life insurance companies, the CMBS market and banks all increased their holdings of commercial and multifamily mortgage debt during the year.”