Moody’s: CMBS delinquency rate falls to 9.02% in June

The rate of delinquent loans in commercial mortgage-backed securities declined in June but remains higher than 9%, as it has for all of 2011, according to Moody’s Investors Service. Analysts said the agency’s delinquency tracker fell 16 basis points last month to 9.02% from 9.18% in May. Four new CMBS deals worth more than $6.2 billion offset the roughly $5.7 billion of legacy CMBS that exited the space during June. If not for those four deals that closed last month, the delinquency tracker would have only slid to 9.12% for June, according to analysts. The balance on delinquent loans fell by about $970 million in June to $54.74 billion from $55.71 billion a month earlier. The number of total delinquent loans in April fell to 3,944 from 4,017 in May. Moody’s said delinquent multifamily loans had the largest drop last month with a $700 million decline, while the balance of delinquent hotel loans fell by $277 million and retail loans fell by $229 million. Moody’s specially serviced loan tracker fell to 12.35% in June from 12.62% the prior month. “While this is the second consecutive month of decline, the 333 basis point spread to the delinquency rate indicates a likely continuation of elevated delinquency levels,” according to Tad Philipp, director of commercial real estate research at Moody’s. Analysts said June was the fourth-straight month loan resolutions outnumbered new delinquencies at $4.1 billion to $3.1 billion. The opposite was true a year ago, when delinquencies outpaced resolutions every month. While the delinquency rate in Nevada fell nearly 200 basis points in June, the state still has highest rate at 22.7%, which is nearly two times the national average, according to Moody’s. Write to Jason Philyaw.