The Mortgage Bankers Association said today that commercial and multi-family delinquencies for most of the investor groups it tracks declined during the first quarter of 2012 compared to both the previous quarter and the first quarter of 2011.  The one exception was commercial mortgage backed securities (CMBS) which had a rate, including mortgages 30+ days late and real estate owned (REO) of 8.85 percent.  The rate at the end of the previous quarter was 8.56 percent.  It had been one basis point higher, 8.86 percent, at the end of Q1 2011.

Banks and thrifts had a 90+ day rate of 3.22 percent in the first quarter compared to 3.57 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012 and 4.21 percent in the first quarter of 2011.  The rate for life insurance mortgage holdings (60+ days) was 0.14 percent, unchanged from a year earlier but down from 0.17 percent in the last quarter of 2012.  Multi-family delinquencies of more than 60+ days held by Fannie Mae dropped from 0.59 percent in the fourth quarter to 0.37 percent.  One year earlier the rate was 0.64 percent.  Freddie Mac's multi-family delinquency rate, also based on 60+ days was 0.23 percent, one basis point higher than in the fourth quarter but substantially improved from 0.36 percent one year earlier.

The five largest investor-groups tracked by MBA together hold more than 80 percent of commercial/multifamily mortgage debt currently outstanding.