Fitch Ratings reported Friday that its tracking of borrowing shows delinquencies for office and retail loans have hit their highest-ever levels while overall U.S. CMBS delinquencies fell for the sixth straight month.
What drove down the overall rate was loans connected to multifamily properties, Fitch said. In that category, there was a 165-basis-point plunge in January from December to a rate of 12.77%.
The delinquency rates for office and retail rose to all-time highs of 7.30% and 7.21%, respectively.
"New delinquencies were led by five-year, interest-only loans from the 2007 vintage that failed to payoff at maturity and have subsequently stopped paying interest," Fitch said in the report.
