Commercial, Multifamily Debt Keeps Growing at Record Pace.

Commercial and multifamily mortgage debt outstanding increased by $60.8 billion, 2.9%, to $2.17 trillion from the first quarter to the second quarter, the Mortgage Bankers Association reports.

Multifamily debt alone grew by $14.9 billion, or 2.7%, to $567 billion, during this period, according to the MBA.

Doug Duncan, chief economist, MBA, said, "The second quarter marks the greatest single-quarter increase in the amount of commercial/multifamily debt. It also marks the greatest single-quarter increase in the amount of commercial/multifamily debt. With moderate economic growth, low delinquencies and moderate interest rate increases, the trend is likely to continue."

Commercial banks hold the largest share of these mortgages, at $919 billion, or 42% of the total, the MBA said. (This also includes the category of "commercial and industrial" loans, which have commercial and multifamily property as collateral.)

Commercial mortgage-backed securities issuers hold $392 billion (18%) of the total, followed by life insurance companies, which hold $250 billion (11.5%) of the debt, and savings institutions, which hold $176 billion of the total.

Government-sponsored enterprises hold $116 billion of the debt in the form of multifamily mortgages that back the securities they issue and also hold $49 billion of the debt in their own portfolios, for a total share of 7.6%. In dollar terms, commercial banks added on an ...