According to the most recent Commercial/Multifamily Mortgage Debt Outstanding quarterly report from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), the amount of outstanding commercial/multifamily mortgage debt rose by $47.1 billion (1.0 percent) in the second quarter of 2025.
By the conclusion of the second quarter, the total amount of outstanding commercial and multifamily mortgage debt had increased to $4.88 trillion. From the first quarter of 2025, multifamily mortgage debt alone climbed $27.7 billion (1.3 percent) to $2.19 trillion.
“Commercial and multifamily mortgage debt outstanding increased modestly in this year’s second quarter,” said Reggie Booker, MBA’s Associate VP of Commercial Research. “Every major capital source added to its holdings, but growth varied, with life insurance companies increasing their holdings by 2.4 percent and banks by 0.9%.”
Banks and thrifts, government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) and federal agency portfolios, mortgage-backed securities (MBS), life insurance companies, and commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS), collateralized debt obligation (CDO), and other asset-backed securities (ABS) issues are the four biggest investor groups.
With $1.8 trillion in commercial/multifamily mortgages, commercial banks still hold the greatest stake (38 percent). At $1.08 trillion, agency and GSE portfolios and MBS constitute the second-largest share of commercial/multifamily mortgages (22%). CMBS, CDO, and other ABS concerns hold $643 billion (13 percent), while life insurance companies possess $769 billion (16 percent). CMBS, CDO, and other ABS issues are bought and held by numerous banks, life insurance companies, and the GSEs. These loans fall under the “CMBS, CDO and other ABS” category in the report.
MBA’s analysis provides a summary of the loan holdings or, in the event that the loans are securitized, the type of security. Many life insurance companies, for instance, invest in both whole loans for which they own the mortgage note (which are listed under Life Insurance Companies in this data) and in CMBS, CDOs, and other ABS for which the note is held by the trustees and security issuers (which are listed under CMBS, CDO, and other ABS issues in this data).
In the second quarter of 2025, if we only look at multifamily mortgages, agency and GSE portfolios and MBS hold the largest share of total multifamily debt outstanding at $1.08 billion (49 percent). CMBS, CDO, and other ABS issues hold $68 billion (3 percent), while banks and thrifts hold $645 billion (29 percent), life insurance companies hold $256 billion (12 percent), and state and local government holds $93 billion (4 percent).
In terms of cash gains, life insurance companies’ holdings of commercial and multifamily mortgage debt increased by $17.7 billion (2.4 percent) in the second quarter. The holdings of bank and thrift institutions climbed by $16.3 billion (0.9 percent), those of agency and GSE portfolios and MBS increased by $8.7 billion (0.8 percent), and those of REITs increased by $1.9 billion (2.2 percent).
The greatest percentage rise in commercial/multifamily mortgage holdings was 3.0% for private pension funds. On the other hand, holdings in state and local government retirement plans fell by 1.9%.
Changes Are Happening Nationwide
A quarterly gain of 1.3 percent is represented by the $27.7 billion rise in multifamily mortgage debt outstanding from the first quarter of 2025. In terms of money, life insurance companies’ holdings of multifamily mortgage debt experienced the biggest gain, coming in at $14.2 billion (5.8%). Bank and thrifts grew their holdings by $5.5 billion (0.9 percent), while agency and GSE portfolios and MBS boosted their holdings by $8.7 billion (0.8 percent).
The biggest percentage rise in multifamily mortgage loan holdings was 5.8% for life insurance businesses. At 15.5%, nonfinancial corporate businesses experienced the biggest drop in their multifamily mortgage debt holdings.
Note: MBA’s analysis is based on data from the Federal Reserve Board’s Financial Accounts of the United States, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s Quarterly Banking Profile, and data from Trepp LLC. More information on this data series is contained in Appendix A.
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