Delinquencies in multifamily loans increased slightly for the U.S. banking industry in the fourth quarter of 2017, the first quarterly increase since the third quarter of 2010.
Multifamily loan totals at U.S. banks and thrifts continued to rise in the fourth quarter to $403.89 billion at year-end, up from $400.16 billion on Sept. 30, 2017. Loans that were 30 days or more past due accounted for 0.27% of multifamily loans at the end of 2017, up 3 basis points from the third quarter Still, the delinquency rate was down from 0.31% in the same quarter of 2016.

According to the Federal Reserve's January Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey, 12 of 69 responding banks reported credit standards had "tightened somewhat" for new multifamily loan applications in the fourth quarter, while 56 said standards "remained basically unchanged." Only one bank reported standards "easing somewhat." Going forward, 15 of the 70 replying banks expect multifamily lending standards to "tighten somewhat" this year.
On the demand side, 14.5% of 69 respondents reported "moderately stronger" demand in the fourth quarter, with 20.3% reporting "moderately weaker" demand and the rest reporting "about the same" demand.

JPMorgan Chase & Co., the nation's largest multifamily lender, added $991.0 million in multifamily loans during the fourth quarter, pushing its total portfolio to $70.20 billion at year-end. New York Community Bancorp Inc. added $929.8 million to its multifamily loan portfolio during the fourth quarter, pushing its total to $28.09 billion, the second highest among banks and thrifts.
Despite reducing its multifamily portfolio by $1.12 billion during the fourth quarter, the largest decline among the top 25 lenders, Capital One Financial Corp. continued to have the fifth largest multifamily loan portfolio.
Montebello, N.Y.-based Sterling Bancorp quintupled its multifamily loan portfolio in the quarter to $4.86 billion, after completing the acquisition of Astoria Financial Corp. in October. At the end of September, Astoria reported $3.90 billion in multifamily loans.

Did you enjoy this analysis? Click here to set up real-time alerts for data-driven articles on the U.S. financial sector. S&P Global compiles multifamily data based on loans reported in call reports and Form Y-9s. Click here to see the aggregated data for commercial banks. For other Data Dispatches on loan growth in the fourth quarter, click here for a look at community banks and here for an analysis of larger institutions. |

