Commercial real estate lending markets continued with high liquidity in the fourth quarter of 2021, according to a new report from CBRE. "Credit spreads on permanent loans remained tight, while underwriting standards were generally unchanged from Q3," it read. The volume was more than eight times what December 2008 saw.

The CBRE Lending Momentum Index, which "tracks loans originated or brokered by CBRE Capital Markets," saw 10.3% quarter-over-quarter growth and is 42.2% above the February 2020 close, which was a largely pre-pandemic baseline. An index is a mechanism to compare a series of measurements over time with respect to a given baseline number, like the way inflation is measured.

The largest share of non-agency loan closings in the period was among alternative lenders—debt funds, pension funds, and credit companies. They composed 37.7% of the activity, in part thanks to a strong collateralized loan obligation (CLO) market. CLO activity hit a record $45.4 billion last year and the current pipeline is active.