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Housing Bill Expected to Become Law; SFR and BTR Provision Included

June 23, 2026

After months of back and forth, the revised 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act (H.R. 6644) passed the Senate yesterday by a vote of 85-5, and the House is expected to pass the bill today. 

• President Trump will likely sign the bill into law as soon as Wednesday. 
• To read the bill text, click here. To read the section-by-section, click here.

• The latest version of the SFR section is unchanged from what the House passed in May. Build-to-rent is intended to be exempt from the ban. 
• The version passed by the Senate in February included a mandatory sale clause for BTR properties to consumers seven-years after purchase by the large institutional investor. 
• After significant pushback, the House removed that divestment provision and the current version does not require BTR divestment.

Go deeper: Click here for a more detailed analysis of the SFR provision. While the ban includes several exemptions and is not intended to require large institutional investor to sell their current holdings, industry questions remain about the operational aspects of the law. 

Beyond the SFR provisions, the bill includes numerous tweaks to regulations around certain federal housing programs, several pilot programs aimed at boosting housing supply, and community bank bills championed by House Financial Services Chairman French Hill (R-AR). 

Highlights include:

• Increasing Housing in Opportunity Zones provision allows HUD to give added weight to competitive grants for housing in opportunity zones. 
• Innovation fund that authorizes a seven-year competitive grand pilot program for state and local governments to improve community infrastructure and build housing. 
• RESIDE Act authorizes a pilot program to convert vacant and abandoned buildings into attainable housing. 
  
• Housing Affordability Act raises FHA multifamily loan limits and changes the inflation metric. 
  
• Manufactured housing provisions aimed at boosting availability and federal support. 
  

Contact David McCarthy (dmccarthy@crefc.org) with questions.

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CREFC Comments on Basel Capital Rules and Leads Joint Trade Letter

June 23, 2026

On June 18, CREFC submitted its response to the following bank capital proposals issued in March by the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC), and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC):

• Proposed revisions to the risk-based capital framework applicable to the largest, most internationally active firms and to firms with significant trading activity (Basel III proposal)
• Proposed regulatory capital and standardized approach for risk-weighted assets (standardized approach proposal)

CREFC also led a joint-trade effort spanning 11 associations. This joint letter was also submitted.

As covered in previous PCM Briefings:

• The Basel III proposal would revise the risk-based capital requirements applicable to the largest, most internationally active firms (Category I and II firms) and simplify the framework by subjecting firms to a single set of risk-based capital calculations; and
• The Standardized approach proposal would revise the U.S. standardized approach, which applies to Category III and IV banks, to better align capital requirements with the risk of traditional lending activities.

Both the CREFC and joint trade letters noted the proposals made significant positive strides from the Biden-era capital proposal toward tailoring capital requirements to actual risk, including better risk-adjusted securitization risk-weight calculations.

However, CREFC shared several recommendations to ensure the final rules appropriately calibrate capital requirements for CRE exposures, preserve essential financing channels, and avoid unintended consequences for CRE lending and securitization markets.

Some key recommendations include:

• Permit Category III and IV banking organizations to access granular CRE risk weights without adopting the entire expanded approach - currently, the proposals only allow Category I and II banks to access tailored risk-weighting for CRE exposures;
• Broaden the “regulatory CRE” and “real estate exposure” definitions to avoid structural penalties for mezzanine and SPE-recourse structures, with measured add-ons for subsequent liens as warranted;
• Revise the securitization eligibility criterion to recognize transactions that depend “primarily” on underlying assets and equalize the 15% floor for comparable government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) exposures during conservatorship;
• Tailor the expanded “commitment” scope, retain a 0% credit conversion factor (“CCF”) for unconditionally cancelable, secured CRE warehousing under the standardized approach; and
• Reassess the mortgage servicing asset risk weight in light of empirical performance and the Federal Regulators’ own requests for comment.
  

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CREFC Annual June Conference: Key Takeaways from the Forums

June 23, 2026

The recently concluded CREFC Annual June Conference in New York City was a resounding success, marked by strong industry engagement and registration levels that surpassed last year’s figures. Across the seven core forum panels, the prevailing outlook among participants was one of cautious optimism. While macro headwinds, elevated interest rates, and short-term stagnant transaction volumes continue to present challenges, the underlying sentiment focused on highly resilient capital markets liquidity and stable fundamentals that position the industry well for an accelerating recovery. 

Servicers Forum

• Special servicing transfers have become more predictable, driven primarily by asset maturity stress rather than outright operational cash-flow deterioration. 
• Core office properties remain the primary driver of the special servicing pipeline. 
• Loan bifurcations into A/B note structures have reemerged as an effective workout strategy to grant borrowers the additional time and capital runway needed to stabilize assets. 
• While automation and artificial intelligence (AI) will significantly reduce administrative burdens, panelists emphasized that servicing remains a deeply judgment-driven business. 

GSE/Multifamily Lenders Forum

• The Agency multifamily capital market remains highly functional, with stable bond spreads despite broader macroeconomic and geopolitical volatility. 
• Ongoing interest-rate uncertainty continues to push borrower demand toward shorter five-year loan terms. 
• The multifamily sector exhibits severe bifurcation rather than broad distress; heavy supply pressures have flattened rent growth in Sunbelt markets like Phoenix and Austin, while lower-supply markets in the Midwest and Northeast continue to outperform.

Portfolio Lenders Forum

• Commercial real estate private credit has matured into a permanent, cyclical $2 trillion global market. 
• CRE private credit benefits from lower leverage levels and tangible collateral backing, separating its resilient performance from the negative headlines surrounding corporate private lending. 
• Lenders are heavily focused on data centers, prompting intense underwriting scrutiny around power availability, localized tenant credit, and residual asset value at lease maturity. 

Investment-Grade (IG) Bondholders Forum

• CMBS transaction issuance and spreads remain highly resilient, led primarily by robust activity in single-asset single-borrower (SASB) and CRE CLO structures. 
• While down-stack ratings migrations are highly consequential for ratings-sensitive investors, actual realized principal losses remain limited. 
• Investors expressed a clear need for greater reporting transparency, standardized workout documentation, and consistent appraisal disclosure practices to strengthen long-term market confidence. 
  

B-Piece Investors Forum

• The conduit CMBS market faces ongoing constraints from interest-rate volatility, leading to elongated transaction execution timelines as borrowers wait until exact loan maturities to transact. 
• The footprint of office collateral in conduit pools remains materially lower compared to prior credit cycles. 
• Structural downside protection is taking center stage across all property sectors, forcing a heavier focus on capital reserves, earlier cash-sweep triggers, and deep property condition due diligence. 

Alternative Lenders and High Yield Investors Forum

• Alternative lenders are no longer viewed as capital providers of last resort, but rather as preferred, solution-oriented institutional counterparties for bridge, construction, and refinancing needs. 
• A highly liquid and competitive debt environment has tightened spreads, placing a premium on execution certainty and lender differentiation. 
• Significant investment opportunities are emerging in discounted secondary loans, driven by ongoing balance-sheet pruning and credit pullback among regional banks. 

Issuers Forum

• Securitization issuance remains active but structurally uneven; year-to-date issuance across conduit, SASB, and CRE CLO formats totals ~$82 billion, though conduits accounted for just a 16% share of that volume. 
• Capital availability and credit appetite remain selectively broad across all major property types, including retail, self-storage, and industrial. 
• Lending decisions continue to hinge strictly on sponsorship quality, asset fundamentals, and structural discipline rather than borrower attempts to predict the forward direction of the interest-rate market.
  

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CREFC Submits Basel Capital Comments

June 18, 2026

CREFC submitted today its response to the following bank capital proposals issued in March by the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC), and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC):

• Proposed revisions to the risk-based capital framework applicable to the largest, most internationally active firms and to firms with significant trading activity (Basel III proposal)
  
• Proposed regulatory capital and standardized approach for risk-weighted assets (standardized approach proposal)

CREFC also led a joint-trade effort spanning 11 associations. This joint letter was also submitted today. 

As covered in previous CREFC Policy & Capital Markets Briefings:

• The Basel III proposal would revise the risk-based capital requirements that apply to the largest, most internationally active firms (Category I and II firms) and simplify the framework by subjecting firms to a single set of risk-based capital calculations; and 
• The Standardized approach proposal would revise the U.S. standardized approach, which applies to Category III and IV banks, to better align capital requirements with the risk of traditional lending activities.
  

Both the CREFC and joint trade letters noted that the proposals made significant strides from the Biden-era capital proposal toward tailoring capital requirements to actual risk, including better risk-adjusted securitization risk-weight calculations.

However, we shared several recommendations to ensure that the final rules appropriately calibrate capital requirements for CRE exposures, preserve essential financing channels, and avoid unintended consequences for CRE lending and securitization markets.

A few key recommendations include:

• Permit Category III and IV banking organizations to access granular CRE risk weights without adopting the entire expanded approach - currently, the proposals only allow Category I and II banks to access tailored risk-weighting for CRE exposures; 
• Broaden the “regulatory CRE” and “real estate exposure” definitions to avoid structural penalties for mezzanine and SPE-recourse structures, with measured add-ons for subsequent liens as warranted;
• Revise the securitization eligibility criterion to recognize transactions that depend “primarily” on underlying assets and equalize the 15% floor for comparable government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) exposures during conservatorship;
• Tailor the expanded “commitment” scope, retain a 0% credit conversion factor (“CCF”) for unconditionally cancelable, secured CRE warehousing under the standardized approach; and 
• Reassess the mortgage servicing asset risk weight in light of empirical performance and the Federal Regulators’ own requests for comment.

We believe final rules could be released late this year or early 2027, with compliance phased in over the next few years across different elements of the rules. 

CREFC will continue to engage with banking regulators as they review industry comments.

Please contact Sairah Burki (sburki@crefc.org) with questions. 

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The CRE Finance Council Names Toby Cobb as Chair of Executive Committee

June 9, 2026

Welcomes New Members to Executive Committee and Board of Governors at Annual Conference

The CRE Finance Council (CREFC) announced today the selection of Toby Cobb, Co-Founder and Co-Managing Partner of 3650 Capital, as Chair of the CREFC Executive Committee and the Board of Governors for 2026-2027 at its Annual Conference in New York City. A commercial real estate finance industry veteran with more than 30 years of experience, Mr. Cobb succeeds outgoing Chair Leland F. Bunch III, Managing Director and Head of Capital Markets and Banking for Bank of America’s U.S. Real Estate Structured Finance Group.

Mr. Cobb is Co-Founder and Co-Managing Partner of 3650 Capital, where he is jointly responsible for loan origination, capital markets, financing activities, and oversight of 3650 Loan Servicing. He is also a member of the firm's Investment Committee and serves as Co-CEO of Grass River Property, a 3650 Capital affiliate focused on adaptive reuse and transit-oriented development projects. Throughout his career, Mr. Cobb has held senior leadership positions as Co-CEO and owner at LNR Property, Co-Head of US Real Estate at Deutsche Bank, Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, and Citicorp Securities, helping to shape the evolution of the commercial real estate lending and securitization markets. In June 2025, he received CREFC’s Founders Award, the organization’s highest honor, recognizing his outstanding leadership and contributions to the industry.

"CREFC has long played a critical role in bringing together the diverse participants that make our commercial real estate finance markets work," said Mr. Cobb. "As our industry continues to navigate changing market conditions and capitalize on new opportunities, CREFC's commitment to advocacy, education, and industry engagement has never been more important. I am honored to serve as Chair and look forward to working alongside our members, Executive Committee, Board of Governors, and the CREFC team to advance the priorities that support a strong, resilient, and liquid commercial real estate finance market."

"On behalf of CREFC and our membership, I am pleased to congratulate Toby Cobb on his selection as Chair of the Executive Committee and Board of Governors," said Lisa Pendergast, President and CEO of CREFC. "Toby's extensive experience across lending, capital markets, servicing, and investment management, coupled with his longstanding commitment to CREFC and the broader commercial real estate finance industry, make him exceptionally well suited for this leadership role. I would also like to thank Leland Bunch for his outstanding leadership over the past year and for his continued service as Immediate Past Chair."

In addition to Mr. Bunch's transition to Immediate Past Chair, CREFC announced the members of its 2026-2027 Executive Committee:

• Chair-Elect: Lissette Rivera-Pauley (Regions Financial Corp.)
  
• Immediate Past Chair: Leland F. Bunch III (Bank of America)
  
• Vice Chair: Shannon Erdmann (Apollo Global Management)
  
• Secretary: Nitin Bhasin (KBRA)
  
• Treasurer: Adam Behlman (Starwood Property Trust)
  
• Long Range Planning & Investment Committee Chair: Dan Olsen (KeyBank Real Estate Capital)
  
• Membership Chair: Jeehae Lee (Bridge Investment Group)
  
• Policy Committee Chair: Rick Jones (Jackstay Ventures, LLC)
  
• Program Committee Chair: MJ Potthoff (Morningstar DBRS)

CREFC also welcomes and congratulates the newest members of its Board of Governors:

• Keith Banzhal (Moody's)
  
• Brian Carey (J.P. Morgan)
  
• Nishant Nadella (Derby Lane Partners)
  
• Meena Pursnani (MetLife)
  
• Laura Swihart (Dechert)
  
• Kelly Wrenn (Ballard Spahr) - PAC Co-Chair

"CREFC's strength comes from the expertise, engagement, and dedication of its volunteer leaders," added Pendergast. "We are excited to welcome these accomplished professionals to our Board of Governors and look forward to their contributions as we continue advancing initiatives that support the health, transparency, and growth of the commercial real estate finance market."

About CREFC
The CRE Finance Council (CREFC) is the trade association for the over $6 trillion commercial real estate finance industry with a membership that includes more than 400 companies and 19,000 individuals. Member firms include balance sheet and securitized lenders, loan and bond investors, private equity firms, servicers, rating agencies, and borrowers. For over 30 years, CREFC has promoted liquidity, transparency, and efficiency in the commercial real estate finance markets, and acted as a legislative and regulatory advocate for the industry, playing a vital role in setting market standards and best practices, and providing education for market participants. For more information, visit www.crefc.org.

Contact:
Mary Beth Ryan
Senior Director, Communications
646-884-7567
mryan@crefc.org

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CREFC Honors Anne Jablonski as This Year’s Woman of Distinction and Adam Behlman as 2026 Recipient of the Prestigious Founders Award

NEW YORK, NY — June 9, 2026 — The CRE Finance Council (CREFC) announced today that Anne Jablonski is the 2026 recipient of CREFC’s Woman of Distinction Award and Adam Behlman is this year’s recipient of our Founders Award. CREFC revealed the award recipients today at its Annual Conference in New York City.

CREFC’s Woman of Distinction Award. The Woman of Distinction Award recognizes women professionals in commercial real estate finance who, through their engagement in CREFC and the greater CRE finance industry, demonstrate outstanding leadership skills and advocate for a more inclusive industry. Anne Jablonski is Executive Managing Director and Head of Commercial Real Estate at SitusAMC where she is responsible for the strategic direction and operational oversight of SitusAMC’s CRE segment, partnering with CRE lenders and investors to originate, transact, manage, and value their real estate portfolios.

With more than three decades of experience in commercial real estate finance and a CREFC member since 2014, Jablonski has built a reputation as one of the industry’s most respected and influential leaders. In her current role, she oversees SitusAMC’s global CRE platform and leads a team of more than 1,500 professionals supporting clients across the full lending and investment lifecycle. 

Beyond her executive responsibilities, Jablonski has made a lasting impact through her dedication to mentorship and industry engagement. She previously served on the CREFC Women’s Network Advisory Board, where she helped guide initiatives focused on professional development, mentorship, and expanding opportunities for women in commercial real estate finance. She is also a frequent speaker at industry conferences and forums, regularly sharing insights on market trends, leadership, and the evolving CRE finance landscape.

“It is an incredible honor to receive this recognition from CREFC and to be included among the remarkable women who have received this award over the years,” said Ms. Jablonski. “Throughout my career, I have been fortunate to work alongside talented colleagues and mentors who helped shape my professional journey. Supporting the next generation of industry leaders and contributing to a more inclusive and collaborative CRE finance industry has been especially meaningful to me.”

“Anne is widely respected across the commercial real estate finance industry for her leadership, integrity, and commitment to developing people and strengthening organizations,” said Lisa Pendergast. “She has built an extraordinary career while also dedicating considerable time to mentoring others and supporting initiatives that help broaden opportunities across our industry. Anne’s impact extends far beyond her professional accomplishments, and we are proud to recognize her with this year’s Woman of Distinction Award.”

To read about previous winners, click here.

CREFC’s Founders Award. CREFC’s Founders Award recognizes an industry professional who has demonstrated outstanding leadership and offered significant contributions to the betterment of CREFC and the commercial real estate finance industry. Established in 2006, recipients of this award have engaged in innovative business practices and industry activities that have successfully enhanced the CRE market and improved debt liquidity to this key component of the U.S. economy.

Adam Behlman serves as President of Starwood Property Trust’s Real Estate Investing & Servicing segment and President of Starwood Mortgage Capital. Widely respected as an industry leader and longtime advocate for the CRE finance market, Behlman has played a pivotal role in shaping both the industry and CREFC over the past two decades. In his current role, Behlman oversees the company’s commercial mortgage-backed securities business, conduit lending and securitization activities, real estate investment platform, and wholly owned special servicer, LNR Partners.

Since joining CREFC more than 20 years ago, Behlman’s impact on the organization has been substantial and enduring. After serving on the Board of Governors from 2016 to 2020, he served as Chairman of CREFC during the 2020–2021 term, helping guide the organization and industry through one of the most challenging periods in modern market history, and he currently serves on both the Board of Governors and CREFC’s Executive Committee.

He has also served as CREFC’s Treasurer for six years, chaired the compensation and nomination committees, contributed extensively to CREFC’s education and diversity initiatives, and actively participated in numerous CREFC programs supporting students and academics pursuing careers in commercial real estate finance. Widely respected for his integrity, collaborative leadership style, and longstanding commitment to strengthening the industry, Behlman is also a member of the NYU Endowment Committee and a strong supporter of CREFC’s mentorship program, which connects young leaders and seasoned professionals across the industry.

“I am deeply honored to receive CREFC’s Founders Award and grateful to be recognized by colleagues and peers I have worked alongside throughout my career,” said Mr. Behlman. “CREFC has long played a vital role in advancing the commercial real estate finance industry, and it has been a privilege to contribute to the organization and support its mission. I look forward to continuing to work with this outstanding community as our industry evolves and grows. It has been a privilege and honor to have worked alongside Lisa Pendergast for the past ten years and want to personally thank her and wish her the best.”

“Adam has been one of the most dedicated and impactful leaders in CREFC’s history,” said Ms. Pendergast. “His leadership, professionalism, kindness, and unwavering commitment to both the organization and the broader commercial real estate finance industry have helped strengthen CREFC and position the industry for long-term success. He is exceptionally deserving of this recognition and I for one am honored to call him a dear friend.”

To read about previous winners, click here.

About CREFC
The CRE Finance Council (CREFC) is the trade association for the over $6 trillion commercial real estate finance industry with a membership that includes more than 400 companies and 19,000 individuals. Member firms include balance sheet and securitized lenders, loan and bond investors, private equity firms, servicers, rating agencies, and borrowers. For over 30 years, CREFC has promoted liquidity, transparency, and efficiency in the commercial real estate finance markets, and acted as a legislative and regulatory advocate for the industry, playing a vital role in setting market standards and best practices, and providing education for market participants. For more information, visit www.crefc.org.

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