Photo: Glass office buildings in an illustrative archive photograph. No property shown is identified as a delinquent loan in MBA’s survey. Plato Terentev / Pexels. Cropped under the Pexels License.
Commercial-property borrowers fell further behind on mortgage payments in the third quarter, with loans packaged into commercial mortgage-backed securities showing the highest delinquency rate among the financing channels tracked by the Mortgage Bankers Association.
In its October 27 release, MBA said 4.97% of CMBS loan balances were at least 30 days delinquent, up from 4.82%. The figures describe portfolios as of September 30, 2026. They are not new Friday readings or a tally of every commercial mortgage in the country.
The survey covered approximately $3 trillion in commercial and multifamily loans, representing about 59% of the $5 trillion in total debt outstanding as of the second quarter. Its reach makes it a substantial view of the market, but it remains a survey of participating portfolios rather than a complete census.
Not every financing channel moved the same way
The share of delinquent loan balances also increased in the life-insurance-company and government-sponsored-enterprise channels. MBA reported:
- CMBS: 4.97%, up from 4.82%, for balances at least 30 days delinquent.
- Life insurance companies: 1.33%, up from 1.19%.
- Government-sponsored enterprises: 1.16%, up from 1.11%.
- Federal Housing Administration: 0.90%, down from 1.06%.
Those percentages refer to loan balances, not the share of buildings or the number of owners in trouble. A change in the balance of large loans can affect a rate differently from a change in the count of individual loans. The release does not supply a single headline delinquency percentage for all commercial-property debt.
MBA also said the direction of change was mixed across major property types, with office properties continuing to show the highest delinquency rates. The release did not provide an office delinquency percentage, so the 4.97% CMBS figure should not be read as an office-only rate.
Why the refinancing calendar matters
Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s senior vice president and chief economist, attributed the modest increase in commercial-mortgage delinquency rates to challenging fundamentals, particularly in multifamily and office markets, together with higher interest rates.
He also pointed to the large volume of scheduled loan maturities as a continuing headwind. A maturity is the point when a loan comes due; an owner may need to repay it, refinance it or agree to different terms with the lender. That pressure is distinct from a loan already being delinquent on its required payments.
At the same time, Fratantoni said delinquency rates remained historically low across most capital sources. That qualification matters: the survey points to mounting strain in parts of the market, not an identical deterioration across every lender or property type.
What the numbers can and cannot tell owners
The report gives borrowers and lenders a way to see where payment stress is concentrated. It does not establish a property’s value, predict a particular building’s foreclosure, or show that every borrower nearing maturity will be unable to refinance.
For an owner reviewing a financing plan, the useful questions are more specific than the market headline: when the loan matures, how much principal must be repaid, what the property’s current income can support and what terms a lender will actually offer. A national delinquency survey supplies context for those conversations, not a substitute for the loan documents or an individual credit decision.
MBA’s findings also show why financing categories should stay separate in a market summary. CMBS had the highest reported late-payment level, while FHA delinquency declined. Combining those movements into a claim that every segment worsened would erase an important difference in the underlying data.
Real Estate Desk | WASHINGTON
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