Delinquency Rate for Commercial Loans in CMBS Drops for Third Consecutive Month

Trepp, LLC released its August 2013 U.S. CMBS Delinquency Report. The delinquency rate for US commercial real estate loans in CMBS dropped for the third straight month to 8.38 percent. This represents a 10-basis-point drop since July’s reading and a 175-basis-point improvement from a year ago. The August 2013 level is the lowest Trepp delinquency rate in three years. There were about $2.5 billion in new delinquencies in August, which was slightly higher than the $2.4 billion July total. Helping to offset these newly delinquent loans were $1.5 billion of loans that cured. Loan resolutions, although down nearly 50 percent from July, totaled just over $1 billion, while under half a billion dollars in formerly delinquent loans were paid off in August without a loss. Both categories of loans put further downward pressure on the delinquency rate. “August saw a continuation of the year-long downward trend in the Trepp CMBS delinquency rate, which reached an all-time high of 10.34 percent just over 12 months ago,” said Manus Clancy, senior managing director at Trepp. “We anticipate this trend will carry forward in the months ahead as a new wave of expected deals will put additional downward pressure on the numbers.” There are currently $45.5 billion in delinquent U.S. CMBS loans, excluding loans that are past their balloon date but current on their interest payments. About 2,900 are currently with the special servicer. Among the major property types, retail remains the best performer, while industrial remains the worst, despite substantial improvement in August. The lodging delinquency rate saw the best month to month improvement, while CMBS office loans saw a small increase in the delinquency rate.