With the so called TARP money and low indexes, owners are very curious regarding where the current commercial mortgage rates are. We give specific rates below and some general thoughts surrounding them, broken down by conventional and SBA loans. We will shortly come out with another report on rates for commercial investment properties.
Commercial Mortgage Rates on Conventional
For general purpose properties like office, retail that are either partially owner occupied or rented out, with loan amounts between $500,000 - $3,000,000 we are seeing rates in the low 6%'s and for some strong borrowers in the upper 5%'s. These are based on 25 and sometimes 30 year amortization schedules. Most fixed period offered are 5 years though we are seeing a few 7 and 10 year fixed program, though rare.
Conventional loan are as you may have guessed difficult to get done now. Loan to value are generally capped at 65% and underwriting is getting really concerned with global cash flow. This is where they look very hard at all of the borrower's income and expenses both business and personal. Though seemingly uncomplicated to calculate and determine, it can get very cumbersome quickly and is a major "lynch men" of many current loan requests as the borrowers business may cash flow yet on the personal side they are underwater.
Commercial Mortgage Rates on SBA Loans
Due to the relationship between the LIBOR rate and the PRIME rate most SBA lenders have stopped using PRIME as their index on SBA 7a loans and instead now tie their loan to the 30 day LIBOR rate plus 300 basis points. The combination of the two, is not the effective rate for the borrower but just in effect the index (the 30 Day Libor was at 1.45% on 1/1/09). The funding bank still has to add their margin on top of this combination. Most banks are at 200 to 275 basis points over. For the borrower this is the part of the rate that can be negotiated. The actual effective rates we are seeing for borrower are around 6 - 6.5% on SBA 7a's.
Special use properties like restaurants, motel, etc are having a difficult time getting any bank to fund their loan and borrowers should expect that their rate will be at the higher end i.e. 275 basis points over.
Though the options have been reduced, commercial loans are still closing. Owner occupants should look really hard at the SBA options as they are the most viable in the market, especially on higher leveraged loans. Loan request at or below 60% loan to value, that are doable should qualify for some of the best commercial mortgage rates in the history of the business.
Lastly it has never been more important to take your loan to the right bank/lender, from the beginning. You need to know who is still closing and which source is the right fit for your situation.