CRE Lending Surges 30% as Market Confidence Builds

After a challenging period for commercial real estate finance, lending activity is showing renewed vigor. Commercial mortgage originations jumped 30% year over year in the fourth quarter of 2025, signaling a strong rebound across property types, according to Reggie Booker, associate vice president of commercial/multifamily research at the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Booker said banks led the surge, posting a 74% increase in originations compared with 2024. "Lending activity increased across most major property types and capital sources, led by particularly strong growth in office, retail, and hotel properties," he noted.

On the capital side, Booker observed that the year brings relatively few maturities among GSEs and life companies. Instead, banks, CMBS, and other lenders are taking a larger share of loan originations. He also pointed to signs that the commercial mortgage "maturity wall" is beginning to shrink.

Booker highlighted the industry's top commercial mortgage servicers, with Trimont leading the field at $680 billion in master and primary servicing. Other top firms include PNC Real Estate/Midland Loan Services ($568 billion), KeyBank National Association ($468 billion), CBRE Loan Services ($458 billion), and Berkadia Commercial Mortgage LLC ($436 billion).

Following Booker, Judith Ricks, associate vice president of commercial real estate research at the MBA, said origination activity continued to gain momentum throughout 2025. Among capital sources, office originations surged 85% year over year, while retail originations climbed 65%.

"The CRE market is really a story of submarkets," Ricks said, pointing to sharp differences across property types, capital sources, and regions. She added that mortgage debt outstanding rose across all capital sources, extending a long-term upward trend that reflects broad-based market growth.

"At the end of the day, there is a lot of value in the market, but sometimes we need to go digging for it," Ricks said. "Property values have stabilized across all property types, which is good from the originations perspective because it provides a lot more certainty for borrowers and lenders."