SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Gantry, the largest independent commercial mortgage banking firm in the U.S., completed $5.15 billion of commercial mortgage placements during 2021, marking the company’s strongest year ever for annual production totals. Strong performance from most commercial real estate asset classes post-pandemic, an active investment market, compelling incentives for refinancing assets at current valuations, and rates that remain at generational lows are expected to carry similar momentum into 2022.
“2021 was an exceptional year for Gantry with $5.15 billion of total production, which exceeds our previous best year of production by nearly $1.5 billion for context,” said Michael Heagerty, Principal with Gantry. “Commercial real estate markets remain extremely active as investor capital continues to migrate to the sector as a preferred investment option and sponsors capitalize on the strong environment for refinancing legacy debt. The pipeline shows a continuation of 2021 activity levels moving into 2022. Even with anticipated impacts from Federal Reserve actions and tapering of post-pandemic economic stimulus, we anticipate the commercial mortgage debt markets will remain in a climate of generationally low interest rates.”
In terms of total capital allocations, 2021 commercial mortgage originations are defined by the following (ranked in descending order):
Asset Class: Multifamily, industrial, office, retail, retail, and self-storage as top asset classes.
Loan Volumes: Life companies, banks, agencies, and credit unions as top funding sources.
Loan Values: Life companies, banks, agencies, and credit unions for total loan values.
Notable trends in relevant Gantry verticals include:
Production
Gantry originated a total of 509 unique loans in 2021. Life company, bank and agency lenders were the most active sources for Gantry’s clients and all lending sources, including CMBS and private debt funds, remain active at the onset of 2022. Life company lenders were particularly active in 2021, providing extremely attractive long-term debt placements for a variety of investment acquisitions and refinancings, with banks holding as the primary source for new construction financing and local borrowers, and agencies as top competitors on multifamily assets. CMBS lenders continue to be an option for higher-leverage loan structures, and private debt funds continue to be a viable competitor for bridge and permanent financings.
Key trends to consider from Gantry’s 2021 production totals include:
– Lenders, which remained active through all 12 months of 2021, increased their allocations to commercial real estate last year and are expected to maintain or increase these allocations in 2022.
– Gantry produced loans for a record 144 different capital sources in 2021 showing the depth of the US capital markets for commercial mortgage debt. Despite the variety of lenders, over 65% of Gantry’s production was still closed by its correspondent lenders, consistent with prior year results….ReadMore…
