Commercial and Multifamily Debt Goes Up.

Washington -- Commercial and multifamily mortgage debt outstanding was up 2.8% in the third quarter, or $87.7 billion from the previous three month period, reaching $3.22 trillion, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Multifamily mortgage debt outstanding alone rose to $813 billion, an increase of $23.5 billion or 3% from the second quarter.

And in the third-quarter securitization avenues - outlets for commercial mortgage-backed securities, collateralized debt obligations and asset-backed securities - boosted their holdings of commercial and multifamily mortgage debt the most compared to other funding sources.

"The third quarter included the periods immediately before and immediately after the dramatic adjustments in the capital markets," said Jamie Woodwell, MBA senior director of commercial and multifamily research. "As a result, commercial/multifamily mortgage debt outstanding grew to a new record - $3.2 trillion - but the quarter-over-quarter change in mortgage debt outstanding fell from $107 billion last quarter to $87.7 billion this quarter. Even with the drop, the $87.7 billion increase in Q3 still marked the fourth largest increase on record."

The mortgage bankers trade group gets input for the report from Federal Reserve data. Commercial banks continue to hold the largest share of commercial and multifamily mortgages, at $1.35 trillion, or 42% of the total. However, data for commercial banks include commercial loans, which are backed by income ...