The U.S. CMBS delinquency rate dropped to 5.40 percent in September, according to Trepp. It is a decrease of 4 basis points from August. This is the third consecutive month in which it has decreased.
The September rate is 62 basis points higher than the year-ago level and 17 basis points higher year-to-date. The reading hit a multi-year low of 4.15 percent in February 2016. The all-time high was 10.34 percent in July 2012.
After hitting a post-crisis low in February 2016, the reading climbed consistently for more than a year as loans issued in 2006 and 2007 reached their maturity dates and did not pay off via refinancing. In the 16 months between March 2016 and June 2017, the delinquency rate moved up 13 times. However, the rate has recently shown signs of abatement. The wave of maturities has been reduced to more of a ripple and when combined with the continued resolution of distressed loans, the largest monthly rate increases should be behind us, reports Trepp. In fact, further declines in the overall reading are quite possible in the coming months.
Almost $1.3 billion in loans became newly delinquent in September, which put 32 basis points of upward pressure on the delinquency rate. Over $800 million in notes were cured last month, while almost $700 million in previously delinquent CMBS loans were resolved with a loss or at par in September. These changes helped shave 20 basis points and 17 basis points off of the September reading, respectively.
Breaking it down by property type, the industrial delinquency rate was unchanged at 6.55 percent, hotel moved up 35 basis points to 3.84 percent, multifamily inched up 9 basis points to 3 percent, office dropped 21 basis points to 7.1 percent, and the retail delinquency rate fell 6 basis points to 6.55 percent.
