April 30, 2013--Commercial real estate loan originations tumbled on a quarter-over-quarter basis thanks to plunging production on hotel and industrial loans. Agency apartment loans also took a big hit.

Commercial mortgage production by all lenders tumbled 36 percent between the fourth-quarter 2012 and the first quarter of this year.

Compared to the first quarter of last year, however, U.S. lenders have raised CRE originations by 9 percent.

The numbers were reported Tuesday by the Mortgage Bankers Association in its Quarterly Survey of Commercial/Multifamily Mortgage Bankers Originations.

Using previously reported origination data from MBA and the latest index levels, first-quarter 2013 CRE originations worked out to around $50.8 billion, falling from $79.3 billion in the final three months of last year.

A year earlier, commercial mortgage production was around $46.7 billion.

Originations for commercial mortgage-backed securities and conduits dropped 38 percent from the fourth quarter but were 170 percent higher than the first-quarter 2012.

Commercial bank CRE originations were 29 percent lower than the previous period but 8 percent better than the year-earlier period.

At life insurance companies, originations fell by nearly a third from the fourth quarter and were 21 percent lower than the first quarter of last year.

Multifamily originators generated 40 percent less volume for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- though Fannie and Freddie originations were up 36 percent from a year earlier,

Overall multifamily production was down almost a third from the fourth quarter but up 30 percent from the first-quarter 2012.

The origination of office property loans sank 45 percent from three months prior and was off 6 percent from a year prior.

Loans secured by retail properties saw a 17 percent quarter-over-quarter decline in production and a 25 percent year-over-year decline.

Industrial property loan originations were down nearly two thirds over the prior three months but inched up 2 percent over the past 12 months.

A 69 percent decline from the final three months of last year was recorded for hotel loans. But hotel activity has risen 35 percent over the past year.

Loans secured by health care properties had a 45 percent decline from the previous quarter and a 15 percent decline from the same quarter in the previous year.

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