Pat Minea featured in NREI: Credit unions are making a bigger play for CRE loans
Credit unions are an attractive option for borrowers who are seeing fewer lender bids, particularly from banks and debt funds.
Credit unions that have been working to grow market share in the commercial real estate lending space in recent years are taking advantage of open runway as other capital sources have pulled back in recent months. In fact, these institutions are willing to offer competitive terms and creative solutions.
“What we have seen from credit unions is that they are willing to finance property types that others aren’t doing,” says Pat Minea, executive vice president, debt and equity at NorthMarq. NorthMarq estimates that its financing activity with credit unions is about 50 percent higher this year compared to last year. Since March, the firm has closed more than two dozen financing transactions with credit unions as the lender for borrowers across the board involving multifamily, industrial, retail and office projects.
There are plenty of capital sources still willing to finance multifamily and industrial assets. Interest drops off, however, for office and retail properties with financing that has become tougher because of COVID-19.
“We are having to dig a little deeper to find the terms that borrowers want in the current climate, and credit unions are a great example of that alternative,” says Minea. “They are more receptive, for whatever reason, to doing these deals that, in today’s world, are a little more on the edge.”
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