WASHINGTON, DC—Commercial and multifamily mortgagedebt reached a record high in the third quarter, theMortgage Bankers Association said Tuesday. The1.1% increase in outstanding debt brought the total to $2.59trillion, with multifamily mortgages accountingfor more than half the quarterly increase.

“The quarter-over-quarter increase was the highest since 2008,and the rise in multifamily mortgage debt was the highest since2007,” says Jamie Woodwell, MBA's VP of CREresearch. “Strong originations are more than outpacing the lowvolume of loans maturing this year.”

With 37% of the total, or $944 billion, commercialbanks continue to hold the largest share ofcommercial/multifamily mortgages, MBA says. They also led the wayin terms of uptick in dollar volume during Q3, with the $13.7billion in Q3 originations representing 1.5% of banks' total. Italso represented nearly half the $28.6 billion in new debt duringthe quarter across the four major investor groups. Banks alsorecorded the largest dollar increase in multifamily debt during Q3:$7.8 billion.