A dramatic surge in private-label commercial mortgage-backed securities issuance has pushed the U.S. market to heights not seen in 15 years, even as the second quarter of 2025 saw a sharp pullback. According to Trepp, issuance plummeted by 41% quarter-over-quarter, dropping from $37.55 billion in the first quarter to $22.01 billion in the second. Yet, this apparent slump belies a much larger story: the first half’s total issuance reached $59.55 billion, marking a 35% increase from the same period last year and representing the largest volume since before the Global Financial Crisis.
Driving this resurgence are single-asset, single-borrower (SASB) deals, which have dominated the landscape. Trepp reports that nearly three-quarters of the first half’s issuance—about 75%—came from SASB transactions. Out of 78 CMBS deals closed in the first half of 2025, 58 were SASB, totaling $43.97 billion, while 20 conduit deals accounted for $15.58 billion. Additionally, there were 17 commercial real estate collateralized loan obligation (CRE CLO) deals, totaling $17.17 billion. If this pace continues, annual issuance could approach $120 billion, a level last seen in 2007.
The market’s transformation becomes even clearer when compared to the first half of 2024. That period saw 65 CMBS deals, with conduit deals representing $13.11 billion (29.71% market share) and SASB deals $31.01 billion (70.28% market share). Only four CRE CLO deals were completed for a total of $3.13 billion. Year-over-year, conduit CMBS issuance in the first half of 2025 jumped 18.84%, while SASB issuance soared by 41.79%. Combined, conduit and SASB issuance climbed 34.97% over the previous year—a surge that likely contributed to the quarter-over-quarter decline, as the market absorbed this extraordinary volume.
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Issuance trends have closely followed shifts in bond spreads. At the start of 2025, benchmark CMBS conduit bonds were pricing at spreads of around 80 basis points over the interpolated J-curve for Treasurys. By early April, spreads had widened to nearly 110 basis points. The Trump administration’s announcement of reciprocal tariffs on April 2—dubbed “liberation day”—sent a chill through the market, according to Trepp. Secondary markets responded, with the median spread on benchmark bonds falling to 88.5 basis points over the J-curve.
Trepp also highlighted the explosive growth in CRE CLO issuance, noting that 17 deals totaling $17.17 billion represented nearly a five-fold year-over-year increase. This, Trepp observed, signals that lenders relying on the market for financing have come to terms with the reality that higher rates are here to stay.
The competitive landscape among investment banks has also shifted. The ten most active firms by market share in CMBS issuance for the first half of 2025 were Wells Fargo Securities (18.02%), Citigroup (13.27%), Goldman Sachs (11.80%), BofA Securities (10.58%), Morgan Stanley (9.54%), JPMorgan Securities (9.51%), Barclays Capital (8.17%), Deutsche Bank (7.67%), BMO Capital Markets (5.27%), and Societe Generale (2.92%).
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