NEW YORK CITY-A CBRE Group study says that despite the resurgent economy, commercial loan underwriting standards have not deteriorated.

"Underwriting is approaching 2005 levels, but we are nowhere near the deterioration in 2007, so on balance it is a good story," says Mark Gallagher, senior strategist at CBRE Econometric Advisors. "But I think we have to be on the watch."

According to the study of fixed-rate senior commercial loans across the nation, CBRE found two major trends that led the brokerage firm to say that commercial loans issued last year were reasonably underwritten, according to Crain's New York Business. The first trend is that borrowers were financing a smaller portion of a property's overall worth, with the average loan-to-value ratio at approximately 65%. With that ratio in place, borrowers had to put a down  payment of 35% of the sale price. In 2005 and 2007, firms were putting less than 30% down.

In addition borrowers were using a smaller portion of their cash flow to pay off debt. The debt service ratio is considerably higher now than it was in 2007.

While the report expressed some concerns for the future, CBRE says it believes lenders have learned their lessons from the fiscal meltdown and will continue to impose stricter underwriting standards. See story in Crain's New York Business.