Where the non-bank lenders are leaning in
Debt funds took the largest share of non-agency closings last year. Our placement data on which asset classes and structures they're competing hardest for.
- Debt funds have taken a growing share of non-agency CRE lending since banks pulled back.
- They compete hardest on bridge-to-stabilization multi-family, transitional industrial, and value-add hospitality.
- In exchange for higher yield, non-bank sources typically offer more flexibility on prepay and future funding.
- A debt fund underwrites the exit as hard as the loan, so the business plan needs to be real.
Where the maturities sit, by channel
Banks hold the largest block of 2026 maturities (MBA puts depositories at $396B), and they are also tightening hardest on renewal terms. That pushes refinance volume toward the non-bank sources below.
The share has shifted
Banks pulled back on construction and transitional deals well before rates moved, balance sheet discipline, not appetite, did most of that work. Debt funds stepped into the gap and haven't given it back. In the files we see, non-bank sources are the most active lenders on anything that isn't a stabilized agency refinance.
Where they're competing hardest
Bridge-to-stabilization multi-family, transitional industrial, and value-add hospitality see the most debt fund competition we track, often three or more term sheets on a single file. Ground-up construction and special-purpose assets see fewer bidders, but the ones who show up have real conviction, not just a rate sheet.
What they want in exchange
Higher yield than a bank, and usually more flexibility around prepay and future funding for capex. The trade is often worth it when the business plan needs the runway a bank won't give, but only if the exit is real. A debt fund will underwrite the takeout as hard as the loan.
"A debt fund isn't a bank with a higher rate. It's a different underwriting conversation, about the plan, not just the collateral."
Reading the appetite correctly
Non-bank appetite moves faster than bank appetite in both directions, a fund that was aggressive on hospitality bridge loans six months ago may have pulled back after a string of extensions across its book. This is exactly why a maintained view of live placement matters more than a static lender list: yesterday's strong fit can be today's pass.
The broker's angle
For a referred file, this is where a deeper bench pays off directly: a client's deal that a bank passes on isn't dead, it's misrouted. Matching it to the right non-bank source, the one funding that asset class and structure this quarter, is often the difference between a stalled referral and a closed one.