US DATA: MBA Q3 commercial and multifamily mortgage origination volumes -7% QOQ,
-17% YOY but +15% YTD. “Commercial and multifamily mortgage borrowing slowed in
the third quarter. Even though low interest rates continue to make borrowing
extremely attractive, a moderate pace of commercial property sales transactions
and a continued drop in the volume of commercial mortgages maturing limited the
overall amount of commercial mortgage loans originated.” Move was driven by
decreases in originations for retail and office properties. The decrease
included a 35 percent decrease in the dollar volume of loans for retail
properties, a 24 percent decrease for office properties, a four percent increase
for hotel properties, a 19 percent increase for industrial properties, a 19
percent increase in health care property loans and a 30 percent increase in
multifamily loans. Among investor types, the dollar volume of loans for life
insurance companies decreased by 32 percent over last year’s third quarter.
There was an eight percent increase for commercial bank portfolios, a 30 percent
increase for GSEs.