Commercial and multifamily lending jumped 25% in the second quarter from a year earlier and 39% from the first quarter driven by strong loan demand for retail and hotel properties, according to figures released Tuesday by the Mortgage Bankers Association.
The dollar volume of loans in the second quarter rose 56% for loans backing retail properties, 22% for hotel properties, 19% for multifamily apartment buildings and 15% for office buildings. Those gains offset a 5% decline in industrial property loans, the MBA said.
"Low interest rates and continued stabilization and growth in the commercial real estate markets are helping support new loan originations," Jamie Woodwell, the MBA's vice president of commercial real estate research, said in a press release.
Overall lending picked up dramatically from the first quarter with hotel properties showing the biggest gains, up 147% in the second quarter. Compared to the first quarter, lending jumped 66% in the second quarter for office properties, 47% for industrial properties, 29% for retail and 21% for multifamily.
Though the dollar volume of lending has picked up dramatically since the first quarter of 2009, overall commercial and multifamily lending origination is still only half of volume from the peak set in the second quarter of 2007.
