Total outstanding commercial and multifamily mortgage debt reached $5.02 trillion at the end of the first quarter, rising 0.5% or $26.3 billion during the first three months of 2026, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported Thursday.
Multifamily mortgage debt accounted for $23 billion of that increase, climbing 1% during the quarter.
Reggie Booker, associate vice president of commercial research at the MBA, said the $5 trillion milestone “speaks to the resiliency and depth of commercial markets.”
“Multifamily continued to drive growth, with debt outstanding rising to $2.32 trillion as agencies, GSEs [government-sponsored enterprises] and banks steadily expanded their holdings,” Booker stated in a press release.
Despite what Booker called a “modest pullback” in the commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) segment, he sees an overall market that “continues to move forward.”
As of the end of the first quarter, the breakdown of top investor groups holding commercial and multifamily mortgages was as follows, according to MBA data:
- Commercial banks: $1.9 trillion (38%)
- Agency/GSE portfolios and mortgage-backed securities: $1.2 trillion (23%)
- Life insurance companies: $775 billion (15%)
- CMBS, collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) and asset-backed securities (ABS): $637 billion (13%)
When looking solely at multifamily mortgage debt, banks fell a notch:
- Agency/GSE portfolios and MBS: $1.2 trillion (50%)
- Banks and thrifts: $665 billion (29%)
- Life insurance companies: $265 billion (11%)
- State and local governments: $99 billion (4%)
- CMBS, CDOs and ABS: $74 billion (3%)
Banks and thrifts increased their holdings of commercial and multifamily mortgage debt by $17.5 billion during the first quarter, representing a 0.9% gain from fourth-quarter levels.
Agency and GSE portfolios and MBS, which includes Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac holdings, added $12.8 billion of multifamily mortgage debt during the quarter, a 1.1% increase.
On a percentage basis, nonfinancial corporate businesses posted the largest quarterly increase in multifamily mortgage debt holdings at 3.4%. Real estate investment trusts saw the biggest decline, falling 3% during the quarter.
