Commercial and Multifamily Sector Remains an Industry Hot Spot.

San Diego -- Commercial and multifamily mortgage bankers enjoyed a record year in 2004, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported here last week. And most expect the party to continue, as long as worries about the availability of terrorism insurance don't roil the market.

"Everything was up," MBA chief economist Doug Duncan told reporters at the group's Commercial Real Estate/Multi-Family Finance Conference. An estimated 4,500 industry professionals registered for the event, which has supplanted the secondary market meeting as the MBA's second-largest annual gathering.

With little on the horizon to slow investment real estate, moreover, Mr. Duncan expects "more of the same" for 2005.

"I have no formal forecast," he said. "But it's reasonable to expect another record year, or at least very close to it."

For 2004, mortgage bankers originated $136 billion in commercial and apartment mortgages, a 16% increase from $117 billion the year before, with fourth-quarter production topping all others in the MBA's quarterly survey.

The October-November-December total was $42.7 billion, $7.1 billion better than third-quarter 2004 volume and $3.8 billion above the same period last year.

The big jump reflected the usual push to close deals by the end of the year, with "widespread gains" across all property and investor types, the MBA said.