Maturing bank-held loans are pushing originations higher
Commercial and multifamily mortgage loan originations climbed 52% in the first quarter of 2026 compared with the same period a year earlier, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's Quarterly Survey of Commercial/Multifamily Mortgage Bankers Originations.
The gains were broad-based, though uneven. Healthcare properties led the charge with a 209% year-over-year increase in dollar volume, followed by retail at 148%, hotels at 85%, industrial at 56%, and multifamily at 49%.
Office, long the sector's most troubled asset class, saw originations decline 2% compared with the fourth quarter of 2025.
"Commercial and multifamily originations increased 52% on an annual basis in the first quarter of 2026, reflecting a meaningful rebound in lending activity," said Reggie Booker, MBA's Associate Vice President of Commercial Research.
"The most notable increase was the 80% rise in depository lending, driven in part by the large volume of bank-held loans maturing this year and the need to refinance those positions."
Among investor types, the most dramatic move came from investor-driven lenders, which posted a 133% year-over-year surge in dollar volume. Depositories followed at 80%, government-sponsored enterprises — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — at 38%, and life company loans at 9%.
Commercial mortgage-backed securities was the lone laggard among investor categories, falling 14% year-over-year.
For brokers operating in the commercial space, the depository rebound is particularly notable. The refinancing wave tied to maturing bank-held loans has created a window of activity that many originators have been waiting on since rates began their climb in 2022. That pipeline, while not unlimited, appears to be moving.
Quarterly comparisons, however, tell a more measured story. First-quarter originations fell 30% from the fourth quarter of 2025, with multifamily down 28%, office down 28%, and industrial off by the same margin.
Retail slipped 5%. Hotels bucked the trend with a 3% increase, while healthcare surged 70% quarter-over-quarter, reflecting accelerating demand for medical office and senior housing product across a number of Sun Belt and Midwest markets.
Booker acknowledged the sequential decline but was careful to contextualise it.
"While overall activity declined from the fourth quarter of 2025, that slowdown is consistent with typical first-quarter seasonality and does not detract from the broader improvement in market conditions."
On a quarterly basis, depositories saw a 37% drop in volume from Q4 2025, life insurance companies fell 36%, GSEs declined 35%, CMBS dropped 23%.
Investor-driven lenders, despite their strong annual showing, were down 18%.
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