Commercial and Multifamily Volumes Skyrocketed 44 Percent in 2010 From Previous Year

Commercial and multifamily mortgage origination volumes increased 44 percent in 2010 over the previous year, with mortgage bankers reporting $118.8 billion of closed commercial and multifamily loans, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's 2010 Commercial Real Estate/Multifamily Finance: Annual Origination Volume Summation. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), collectively, were the largest investor group in 2010, responsible for $42.8 billion of the total, followed closely by life insurance companies and pension funds at $30.6 billion. In terms of property types, multifamily properties saw the highest volume, $48.9 billion, followed by office properties with $22.6 billion of originations. First liens accounted for 92 percent of the total dollar volume closed. "Coming off of the 2009 lows, commercial and multifamily originations increased by a strong 44 percent in 2010," said Jamie Woodwell, VP of commercial real estate research for the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). "Low interest rates coupled with improving economic fundamentals have the potential to draw out even more borrowers in 2011." Lending for office properties had the largest percentage increase in originations by property type, followed closely by hotel/motel properties and retail. Year-over-year changes are based on the changes in volume among "repeat reporters" that participated in both the 2009 and 2010 surveys.