The Top 20 NYC Commercial Lenders in 2016

The commercial real estate market in New York remained strong in 2016, and CRE lending followed suit after the slump of the first quarter. Encouraged by historical lows in interest rate, and a generally healthy evolution of the main commercial sectors in Manhattan – by far the largest CRE loan sub-market in the US – lender confidence stayed high and many institutions increased their spending from the previous year.

The powerhouse sub-market that is Manhattan continued a healthy trend of high rents and steady occupancy rates in the multi-family and office sectors, according to reports by Cushman & Wakefield and Marcus & Millichap.

The retail market in Manhattan, however, showed some signs of losing steam in the second half of 2016: availability rates went up and asking rents declined in the whole borough. Despite this, retail sales in brick & mortar shops grew year-over-year, boosting confidence that this volatility is just temporary and the retail property market will bounce back.

So which were the financial heavyweights backing the city’s commercial market in 2016?

In our latest study, we ranked the top 20 commercial lenders in New York based on the total volume of credit issued last year, tracking changes in lenders’ spending from 2015. The ranking covers loans issued on all multi-family, office, retail and industrial properties in 2016, as well as refinance loans, across four boroughs – Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx.

Deutsche Bank was the largest lender by volume, but JPMorgan Chase granted the most loans

The list of largest commercial mortgage lenders in New York was dominated by banking giants, with Deutsche Bank leading the pack in terms of loan volume. Local Signature Bank was the second largest lender in 2016. JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Capital One also featured in the top 5, with JPMorgan Chase originating the highest number of loans – 1,058.

Deutsche Bank climbed to the top of the ranks with only 54 individual loans issued, in the sum of $7.55 billion, making for an average of $140 million per loan. By comparison, Signature Bank originated a host of commercial loans of smaller value – as many as 990 loans for a much lower average of $6.5 million.

Many of the lenders providing the highest-value loans for large projects were non-bank lenders and foreign banks: MetLife, AXA, Deutsche Bank, Landesbank Baden-Wurttemberg, and Bank of China. Each of these lenders granted a small number of loans in 2016, and all of them had an average loan size of more than $100 million.

The single largest mortgage deal of the year was closed by JPMorgan Chase – a whopping $1.2 billion for the Solow office building in Midtown.

Several non-bank institutions had significant market shares this past year, including global insurance giants like MetLife and AXA – the latter having seen a shocking 700% growth in total mortgage value from 2015 – and the New York State HFA.

Two smaller lenders strongly expanded investment in CRE last year. One was local Flushing Bank, which doubled its loan volume to top $1 billion in 2016, and ranked 19^th. The other – Prudential Insurance Company of America – managed a whopping 191% increase year-over-year to come in last on our Top 20 Lenders list.

Below we ranked the lenders that recorded the highest loan volumes in the multi-family, office and retail sectors in 2016.

JPMorgan Chase originated 833 loans on multifamily properties

In total volume of credit, Signature Bank was by far the largest lender for multi-family properties, followed by the New York Community Bank. NYCB continues to be one of the most important players in its mortgage niche. However, its overall loan volume decreased by 39% from the previous year.

The most prolific lender was JPMorgan Chase, which issued a total number of 833 loans, including those originated by their subsidiary German American Capital Corporation. Their total loan volume reached $2.3 billion – just half the amount originated by Signature Bank for multi-family property.

Deutsche Bank focused on pricey office buildings

The largest CRE lender in New York by loan volume, Deutsche Bank financed 19 office properties in 2016, for a total of $4.85 billion. The largest loan granted by the bank on an office building was a $900 million refinancing on the tower at 280 Park Avenue, owned by SL Green and Vornado Realty.

Meanwhile, JPMorgan Chase closed deals on no less than 80 office buildings, more than any other lender in this sector, totaling $2.84 billion – of which $1.2 billion was for the above-mentioned Solow Building.

Bank of America loaned $877M for retail properties

Bank of America had the highest loan volume – $877 million – but financed few projects (16). The largest loan granted by BofA was in the amount of $138 million for a 26,000 square-foot low-rise brick construction on a corner lot in Chelsea.

Signature Bank, on the other hand, originated the highest number of loans in the retail sector, with a staggering 154 loans granted for an average loan value of about $5.3M.

For our top retail lenders, we listed the key players totaling over $500 million in loan volume in 2016.

Methodology:

Commercial mortgage data for 2016 included loans and refinances granted for all multifamily, office, retail and industrial properties in the boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx. The figures were compiled in early December and adjusted, based on historical data, to compensate for the lag in filing documents into the public record.