Office Sector Lending Drops to Pre-2008 Levels

One out of every three securitized office mortgages that expired during the first nine months of 2023 was paid off by the end of September, according to Moody’s Analytics. This share is well below that before the pandemic, when more than 80% of these were being paid back at maturity. About half the CMBS office loans that were not paid off in the first nine months of this year ended up in default. The other half got extended or otherwise modified. Lenders don’t want to take over struggling buildings and are willing to extend loans for a while at higher interest rates as long as landlords contribute additional cash to pay them down.

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