Private-Label CMBS Accounts for Half of Delinquencies in Securitized Multifamily Loans

The current hot spot for delinquency in securitized multifamily loans appears to be private label CMBS, Trepp reported earlier this month. As of August 2026, a total of $11.6 billion of the $635.82-billion universe of securitized multifamily loans was delinquent, and half that delinquent debt was in private-label CMBS deals. That’s despite private-label CMBS accounting for just 12% of the total outstanding balance.

Trepp’s Stephen Buschborn wrote that private-label securities hold $75.48 billion of multifamily debt and have a 7.69% delinquency rate for $5.8 billion of delinquent debt, or 50.2% of the total. Freddie Mac has $518.99 billion of multifamily debt outstanding, or 82% of the total tracked, but its 0.80% delinquency rate translates to $4.2 billion of delinquent debt, or 35.9% of the total.

Commercial real estate collateralized loan obligations (CRE CLOs), which primarily pool floating-rate transitional loans, hold $41.3 billion of debt. Their 3.88% delinquency rate translates to $1.6 billion of delinquent debt, or 13.9% of the total, wrote Buschborn.

“The composition of delinquent multifamily debt has changed substantially,” he wrote. “Two years ago, CRE CLOs accounted for the largest share, with about 40% of the delinquent debt, while Freddie held 32% and private-label accounted for the smallest share of delinquent multifamily debt at 27%.” This change in composition may be due partly to the fact that CRE CLO managers may remove defaulted or otherwise credit-impaired loans from transaction pools. “As a result, the $1.6 billion of delinquent loans currently in the $41.3- billion CRE CLO universe may understate the level of distress among loans that have passed through those transactions.”