CMBS delinquencies hit record high in December

The delinquency rate on commercial mortgage-backed securities reached 9.2% in December, the highest on record, according to analytics firm Trepp. When the delinquencies dipped in October, analysts began anticipating a continued recovery, but the rate jumped 35 basis points in November and another 27 bps in December. A total of $61.5 billion in commercial mortgages are either more than 30 days delinquent, in foreclosure or REO as of December, up from just over $60 billion the month before. Trepp Managing Director Manus Clancy said many were speculating that an emergence in new commercial lending and the resolution of many CMBS loans that the commercial real estate crisis had subsided. But Trepp said new issuances of CMBS from JPMorgan Chase (JPM), another from Goldman Sachs (GS) and more coming from Bank of America (BAC) should keep new delinquencies in check in 2011. Still, the market is far from healed. “The December delinquency rate underscored that there still may be some nasty surprises in store even as the market shows some signs of healing,” Clancy added. Write to Jon Prior.