WASHINGTON, DC—The commercial real estate lender community showsno signs of scaling back its appetite for business, according tothe Fall 2014 survey of Commercial Real Estate LenderSentiment, a report issued by the Real EstateLenders Association and ChandanEconomics. In fact certain providers, such as CMBS lendersand life companies are expected to grow their market share – andthat growth will most likely come at the expense of national andforeign banks, as well as relatively slower growth in agencylending.

There are several implications to these trends, SamChandan, CEO of Chandan Economics tells GlobeSt.com. One,the increasingly competitive environment leaves lenders little roomto push the envelope much further. Two, the envelope is beingpushed as much as possible, which, means loosening underwritingstandards.

There is a caveat to that latter point, however. The survey didfind that most lenders do not see much more room for easingmultifamily credit standards or growth in multifamily lendingvolume. In fact the net share of survey respondents expectinglooser underwriting for apartments has fallen to just 4%, down from9% in the Spring 2014 survey. Fewer than 20% expect to growapartment volume.