Interest-Only Commercial Loans from CMBS Lenders

The competition for commercial mortgage loans among CMBS (conduit) lenders is so fierce that many of them are now offering ten year loans that are interest-only for the first two to five years.

At first the rating agencies, such as Moody's Investors Services, Standard and Poor's, and Fitch ICBA, howled in protest when CMBS lenders tried to add such loans to securitized pools.  The rating agencies eventually relented and started to allow interest-only loans, but only if the interest-only portion of the loan lasted no longer than the first two years.  Then the loan had to be amortized over just 23 years for the remaining eight year term.

But recently aggressive CMBS lenders have begun stretching the interest-only portion of the loan to three years and then out to four years.  In a few case some CMBS lenders have even tried to stretch out the interest-only period to five years, but only where there was a very good story, such as a major lease that is significantly below market rent.

By making the loan interest-only for the first few years, the CMBS lenders have been able to get their loan customers a larger loan.  Most borrowers will take a larger loan, even if the rate is 10 to 20 basis points higher.

You can find over one hundred CMBS lenders on C-Loans.com.