Greater Boston CRE Lending Stays Local; Small Loans Dominate 2018 In Report
October 31, 2018 - By The Real Reporter with CrediFi
BOSTON–The bulk of the Greater Boston market Loans (83%) over the past three years (in all property categories) consisted of loan amounts between $0.5 million and $5 million, with about half of those $1 million or under, according to a new CrediFi Report. (Loans under $0.5 million were excluded from the analysis.) Meridian Bancorp, whose sole subsidiary is Boston-based East Boston Savings Bank, continues to be one of the CRE lenders most prominent in small-to-midsize commercial real estate financing in the Boston metro this year. Meridian/East Boston Savings originated the most loans in the $5.1 million to $25 million category as well as the $1.1 million to $5 million category. It was also one of the top five lenders in both the smallest loan size category ($0.5 million to $1 million) and the largest (loans over $25 million). The bank’s dominant position in the small-to midsize market has remained stable over the past three years - as examined in the report.
In the midsize category ($5.1M-$25M), Meridian/East Boston was followed by another local lender: Eastern Bank Corporation, the holding company for Boston’s Eastern Bank. Next comes the Japanese financial services group Orix Corp., the parent company of Red Mortgage Capital. The Ohio-based multifamily and affordable housing lender’s CRE financing activity in the Boston metro has jumped significantly in rank since 2016, driven by its multifamily lending. It was also one of the top lenders in the $25 million-plus category.
In addition to Orix, other leading lenders in the $25 million-plus category include Webster Financial Corporation, the parent company of Connecticut-based Webster Bank, and commercial real estate firm CBRE. The leading originator of small loans ($0.5M-$1M) was Independent Bank Corp., the Rockland, Mass.-based parent company of Rockland Trust.
In specifc categories, the loan distribution trend for retail and multifamily properties closely resembles the trend for all property types, but shows a smaller share of large loans. Retail loans over $5 million constituted 14% of all retail loans in the Boston metro, and $5 million-plus multifamily loans constituted 15% of all Boston-area multifamily loans in the period analyzed in this report. Loans over $25 million constituted just 4% of the multifamily segment by loan count in that period and 2% of the retail segment.
