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Forums in Focus: Joint Transparency Initiative Targeting the SASB Market

July 21, 2026

To address the ongoing structural evolution of the CRE finance landscape, the Investment-Grade (IG) Bondholders Forum and the Issuer Forum recently convened a joint session aimed at enhancing reporting practices and transparency across the SASB market.

Acknowledging that the market requires data transmission frameworks that match its modern complexity, the two forums reviewed several primary operational areas to drive consistency, mitigate data friction, and explore the feasibility of establishing collaborative industry best practices.

Key Areas for Reporting Enhancement

• Data Room Standardization: To build efficiency during the pre-marketing and structural phases of a transaction, the Forums agreed to work towards developing a standardized checklist of feasible documents for SASB data rooms. While complete information is often subject to ongoing negotiations before a deal is finalized, establishing a consistent template—including baseline appraisal metrics, underwriting assumptions, and third-party reports—is intended to streamline due diligence.
• Capital Stack Reporting Clarity: For pari passu structures and loans with complex capital stacks, tracking distinct debt layers remains an operational priority. The forums noted that establishing a standardized format for reporting capital stack details is an objective they intend to work towards. The Issuer Forum noted that existing master tape data lines could potentially be converted into a consistent file type, while CREFC indicated that this standardized capital structure layout could be integrated as a dedicated tab within the existing reporting Annex to help investors accurately capture transaction metrics.
• Multi-Property Tracking and Releases: In multi-property SASB transactions, ensuring that investors receive timely visibility into asset releases and subsequent property-level financial metrics is critical. The IG Forum has agreed to work towards providing clear examples of transactions where property release tracking functions consistently, alongside examples where challenges persist. These case studies are intended to serve as a helpful baseline for productive engagement with the broader servicing community.
• Optimizing Financial Data Flows: Addressing delays in property-level financial reporting was identified as an area for joint focus, reflecting the broader industry push for timely, transparent, and consistent reporting. The forums discussed exploring the feasibility of potential measures, such as implementing system flags to denote when financials are received, which could help market participants isolate whether reporting delays stem from borrower-level data delivery or subsequent processing timelines. 
• Post-Modification Visibility: To maintain secondary market clarity, the forums highlighted that working towards standardizing the practice of posting completed loan modification documentation to trustee sites, once agreements are legally finalized, may support investor visibility. The forums warmth to this concept reflects a shared understanding that consistent access to updated loan parameters benefits the entire ecosystem.
• Consistent Fee Disclosure: The conversation also covered fee disclosure frameworks within SASB transactions. The forums discussed evaluating a potential, threshold-based approach to help ensure transparency is balanced, predictable, and consistent across the wider industry.

Next Steps and Collaborative Implementation

Moving forward, the initiative aims to transition into a broader, collaborative phase focused on assessing how potential enhancements might align with the technical and operational capabilities of key market counterparties:

• CREFC will work towards drafting a preliminary capital structure layout template for the Annex to gather initial, informal stakeholder feedback.
• The Issuer and IG Forums have agreed to work towards outlining a recommended baseline data room document checklist.
• CREFC plans coordinate a constructive dialogue with the servicing and special servicing communities to collaboratively review operational mechanics, with the goal of discussing how property release reporting, financial data tracking, and modification postings might be approached without creating undue cost friction or administrative burdens.
  

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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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The CRE Finance Council Announces New Chairs for Industry Forums

June 9, 2026

New Chairs and Chair-Elects Introduced at Annual Conference this Week

 The CRE Finance Council (CREFC) today announced new Chairs for their 2026-2027 industry Forums. The new Forum leadership was elected at CREFC’s Annual June Conference in New York City this week.

CREFC’s Forums represent specific market constituencies that drive the U.S. commercial real estate finance industry. Forums include:

• Alternative Lenders and High-Yield Investors
• CMBS Investors:
  • CMBS B-Piece Investors 
  • CMBS Investment-Grade Bondholders
• CMBS Issuers 
• CMBS Servicers
  • Master Servicers
  • Special Servicers
• GSE/Multifamily Lenders 
• Portfolio Lenders
  • Bank Lenders 
  • Insurance Company Lenders

Each Forum interacts and addresses issues critical to its business sector, while working to achieve solutions that serve a common purpose and continue to drive the industry forward. CREFC’s Forums manage disparate and converging market views, advocate a consensus of positions to policymakers and lawmakers, educate members, develop market best practices and standards, and work to the betterment of these unique individual market sectors within the commercial real estate finance market in its entirety.

The incoming slate of Forum leaders includes:

• Alternative Lenders & High-Yield Investors. CREFC welcomes Tony LaBarbera (Blackstone) as Chair-Elect, Rachel Hunter-Goldman (KKR - Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) as Chair, and Samantha Rotchford (BDT & MSD Partners) as Past-Chair. In 2025-2026, Samir Tejpaul (Madison Realty Capital) served as Past-Chair.
• B-Piece Investors. CREFC welcomes Zach Freedman (Eightfold Real Estate Capital, L.P.) as Chair-Elect, Josh Brand (Argentic) as Chair, and Frank Yin (KKR-Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) as Past-Chair. In 2025-2026, Peter Lindner (Rialto Capital) was Past-Chair.
• GSE/Multifamily Lenders. CREFC welcomes Yahli Becker (Cantor Fitzgerald & Co.) as Chair-Elect, Lee Green (Wells Fargo) as Chair and David Haynes (CBRE Capital Markets, Inc.) as Past-Chair. Wayne Ip (Fannie Mae) and Jason Griest (Freddie Mac) serve as GSE representatives. In 2025-2026, the Past-Chair was Ahmed Hasan (Capital One). 
• Investment-Grade Bondholders. CREFC welcomes Li Pang (J.P. Morgan) as Chair-Elect, Wendy Pei (Ellington Management) as Chair, and Adam Smith (DWS) as Past-Chair. In 2025-2026, Rajesh Bansal (Quiq Capital) served as Past-Chair. 
• CMBS, CRE CLO and Agency Issuers. CREFC welcomes Raul Orozco (Citigroup Global Markets) as Chair-Elect, Scott Epperson (Goldman Sachs & Co.) as Chair, and Shaishav Agarwal (Barclays) as Past-Chair. In 2025-2026, Brigid M. Mattingly (Wells Fargo) served as Past-Chair. 
• Portfolio Lenders – Bank Lender Subforum. CREFC welcomes Mauricio Duran (Webster Bank) as Chair and Robert Grudzinski (U.S. Bank, NA) as Past-Chair. In 2025-2026, Bridget Scanlon was Chair. 
• Portfolio Lenders – Insurance Company Lenders Subforum. CREFC welcomes Lisa Paterson Simonetti (Apollo Global Management) as Chair-Elect, Kevin Catlett (Principal Real Estate Investors) as Chair, and Melissa Farrell (PGIM) as Past-Chair. In 2025-2026, Kevin Pivnick served as Past-Chair. 
• Servicers – Master Servicers Subforum. CREFC welcomes Michelle Engle (KeyBank) as Chair-Elect, Amanda Dugat (SitusAMC) as Chair, and Dana Jo Martino (Berkadia Commercial Mortgage LLC) as Past-Chair. In 2025-2026, Adam Fox (Fitch Ratings) served as Past-Chair. 
• Servicers – Special Servicers Subforum. CREFC welcomes William Clarkson (Torchlight Investors) as Chair-Elect, Brett Mann (LNR Partners) as Chair, and Alex Killick (CWCapital) as Past-Chair. In 2025-2026, Pamela Dent served as Past-Chair. 

“We are excited to welcome these new leaders to our industry Forums, which serve as the backbone of CREFC and all that it does. I want to thank all of our existing and past Forum leaders for their dedication and continued support of our work,” said Lisa Pendergast, President and CEO of CREFC. 

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CREFC GSE / Multifamily Lenders Forum Update

June 2, 2026 

On May 20, the CREFC GSE / Multifamily Lenders Forum convened an executive roundtable dinner in Washington, D.C. Hosted by CREFC CEO and President Lisa Pendergast, the event brought together prominent business leaders from across the GSE and multifamily sectors for an open-forum exchange.

Senior representatives from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — as well as Barclays, Cantor Fitzgerald, CBRE, Citi, JPMorgan Chase, PGIM, Regions Bank, Walker & Dunlop, and Wells Fargo — engaged in high-level discussions on housing affordability and evaluating the market impact of the recently released Basel regulatory capital proposal on agency bond buyers.

GSE Forum leadership is now turning its focus to the upcoming CREFC Annual Conference in New York City starting this Sunday. At the conference, each forum will deliver a comprehensive market briefing of the current state of their market sectors. Today, we focus on the GSE / Multifamily Lenders Forum Panel, scheduled for Monday, June 8, at 11:30 AM EST.

Moderator:

• Lee Green, Managing Director, Wells Fargo

Panelists:

• Yahli Becker, Senior Managing Director, Head of Agency CMBS, Cantor Fitzgerald
• Jeff Berenbaum, Head of CMBS Research, Citigroup Global Markets
• Jason Griest, Vice President, Multifamily Capital Markets Securitization, Freddie Mac
• David Haynes, Head of Agency Trading, CBRE Capital Markets
• Matthew Jones, CFA, Chief Investment Officer – Credit Investments, Harbor Group

Key Discussion Highlights:

• Market Fundamentals: Agency CMBS market trends, supply pipelines, vacancy rates, rent growth trajectories, and the overall NOI outlook.
• Origination Dynamics: Expected loan production volumes and the evolving multifamily lending environment.
• Investor Sentiment: Credit investor and borrower perspectives on asset valuation, market resilience, and current investor sales trends.

To join the CREFC GSE/Multifamily Lenders Forum, please click here.

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Servicing Sessions at Next Week’s Annual Conference

June 2, 2026

Our Annual Conference in New York next week is full of servicing related content. Here are some of the highlights:

Servicer Forum – Monday June 8th 10:30 – 11:15 AM

After the Monday morning keynote presentation, stick around for a lively discussion with the CREFC Servicer Forum leadership. Key topics on the current agenda include:

• Negotiating Loan Workouts 
  • Challenges associated with maturity-driven stress vs. operating distress
• Providing investor transparency without compromising negotiation leverage with the borrower
• Addressing evolving investor expectations and the various interests across the capital stack
• General Servicing
  • The evolution of loan documentation and servicing agreement language
  • Coordination between Master and Special Servicers
  • New trends observed amidst heavy influx of new servicers in the CMBS market

Joint CRE CLO and IRP Meeting – Monday June 8th — 12:30 to 1:30 PM

Grab a boxed lunch and join the joint CRE CLO and IRP meeting. Join CRE CLO industry colleagues and the IRP committee leadership to discuss the Collateral Manager Data Report (CMDR) implementation and proposed additions, servicer financial reporting standards for future CRE CLOs, and an update regarding the finalization of IRP V8.5 and potential upcoming initiatives.

Downstream Impact on the Servicing Playbook Panel – Tuesday June 9th 3:45 – 4:30 PM

Tuesday afternoon’s panel “In the Thick of It – Downstream Impact on the Servicing Playbook” will provide valuable perspectives from master servicers, special servicers, rating agencies, and investors regarding servicing issues. 

Current hot topics to be discussed include:

• Servicer advancing
  • Non-recoverability
  • SASB vs. conduit
  • Potential effect on workout strategies
• Investors’ desire for more information regarding workout plans, appraisal reductions, and loan performance 
• Pooling and Servicing Agreement innovations to address various servicing pinch points

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Introducing Spotlight on Servicing: Understanding CMBS Appraisal Reductions

May 12, 2026

CREFC is pleased to share the release of Understanding CMBS Appraisal Reductions as the first report in a new Spotlight on Servicing educational series focused on the servicing business.

Appraisal Reductions are a fundamental component of CMBS servicing, with direct implications for cash flow, bond performance, and investor control. The concept was created to limit the amount of servicer advancing that might not ultimately be recovered at disposition after a loan default.

Understanding appraisal reductions is essential to interpreting CMBS deal performance across the capital stack, particularly in periods of asset stress.  Our recently published Spotlight on Servicing is an entry level discussion that highlights the mechanics of Appraisal Reductions, including typical trigger events.

Additionally, a sample Appraisal Reduction Amount (ARA) calculation is provided, and the concept of Appraisal Subordinate Entitlement Reduction (ASER) is introduced.  Because an ASER will decrease the proportion of the monthly payment to be advanced on the loan, the potential impact of the effect on bondholder payments and bond ratings is discussed.

Download report here.

Contact Rich Carlson (rcarlson@crefc.org) with any questions.

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