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Roundtable Summary: Better Property Data Can Strengthen CRE Insurance and Lending

August 13, 2026

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CREFC Center for Real Estate Finance Announces 2026-2027 CREFC Scholars

CREFC and NYU scholarship program supports the next generation of commercial real estate finance professionals

  
NEW YORK, NY — August 12, 2026 — The CRE Finance Council (CREFC) and the Schack Institute of Real Estate at the NYU School of Professional Studies has announced their 2026-2027 CREFC Scholars. This year's class includes three undergraduate scholars and three graduate scholars. 

Undergraduate Scholarship Recipients:

• Laura Gruber
• Noah Kim
• Jacqueline Richardson

Graduate Student Scholarship Recipients: 

• Benjamin Amsuess
• Ashley Monahan
• Shujin Zhang

The CREFC Center for Real Estate Finance at the Schack Institute and the CREFC Endowment Committee selected this year's scholars based on academic excellence, leadership potential, and demonstrated interest in commercial real estate finance. The program continues to attract a highly competitive pool of applicants from across NYU's real estate programs.

In addition to receiving merit scholarships, CREFC Scholars are granted complimentary CREFC Academic membership with access to CREFC's Resource Center, Career Center, and educational programming. Scholarship recipients are also eligible to participate in CREFC's mentorship program, which pairs students with experienced industry professionals, and are invited to attend CREFC conferences, seminars, and networking events throughout the year.

"The CREFC Scholars Program reflects our commitment to investing in the future of the commercial real estate finance industry," said Toby Cobb, Co-Founder and Co-Managing Partner of 3650 Capital and Chair of CREFC's Executive Committee and Board of Governors. "Each year, we are inspired by the caliber of students entering the profession, and we are proud to partner with the Schack Institute to provide meaningful educational, mentorship, and networking opportunities that help prepare the next generation of industry leaders."

About the CREFC Center for Real Estate Finance at the Schack Institute

 Launched in 2020, the CREFC Center for Real Estate Finance at the Schack Institute serves as a hub for industry collaboration, innovative programming, and student engagement. The Center was established through CREFC's 2019 endowment gift to NYU Schack and supports student scholarships, an industry-leading certificate program for CREFC members, and a CREFC-focused course offered each semester that is available to all CREFC members.

Learn more about this year’s scholars here. For more information about the CREFC Center for Real Estate Finance at the Schack Institute, click here. 

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

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CREFC Center for Real Estate Finance Announces 2026-2027 CREFC Scholars

August 12, 2026

CREFC and NYU scholarship program supports the next generation of commercial real estate finance professionals

 
The CRE Finance Council (CREFC) and the Schack Institute of Real Estate at the NYU School of Professional Studies has announced their 2026-2027 CREFC Scholars. This year's class includes three undergraduate scholars and three graduate scholars. 

The CREFC Center for Real Estate Finance at the Schack Institute and the CREFC Endowment Committee selected this year's scholars based on academic excellence, leadership potential, and demonstrated interest in commercial real estate finance. The program continues to attract a highly competitive pool of applicants from across NYU's real estate programs.
  
In addition to receiving merit scholarships, CREFC Scholars are granted complimentary CREFC Academic membership with access to CREFC's Resource Center, Career Center, and educational programming. Scholarship recipients are also eligible to participate in CREFC's mentorship program, which pairs students with experienced industry professionals, and are invited to attend CREFC conferences, seminars, and networking events throughout the year.

About the CREFC Center for Real Estate Finance at the Schack Institute

Launched in 2020, the CREFC Center for Real Estate Finance at the Schack Institute serves as a hub for industry collaboration, innovative programming, and student engagement. The Center was established through CREFC's 2019 endowment gift to NYU Schack and supports student scholarships, an industry-leading certificate program for CREFC members, and a CREFC-focused course offered each semester that is available to all CREFC members.

Learn more about this year’s scholars here. For more information about the CREFC Center for Real Estate Finance at the Schack Institute, click here.

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August Recess Looms over Congress’s Unfinished Business

July 28, 2026

The House advanced several key initiatives last week before leaving DC for the August recess, but the bills as written are not likely to pass the Senate. 

Why it matters: Congress must pass a government funding bill before September 30. Republicans want to advance spending priorities in Reconciliation 3.0, and the White House is pressing for additional funds for the miliary amid the ongoing Iran war. 

• Although the House votes were a victory for Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and President Trump, the Senate vote math is more complicated with the filibuster and growing group of disaffected GOP senators. 
• The White House has been openly critical of Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) amid the stalled SAVE America Act, which does not have the votes to advance in the Senate. 

Government Funding: The House passed H.R. 9770, the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2027, last week by a vote of 220-205. 

• The bill would extend current funding through December 4 and is intended to avoid a September 30 shutdown while preserving additional time for FY2027 appropriations negotiations.
• Thune said that the Senate will not take up the House-passed CR this week, but will instead move forward with their own package that will include anomalies negotiated with the White House.

Budget Reconciliation: Reconciliation now shifts to the Senate after the House passed H. Con. Res. 113 last week, a $95 billion FY2027 budget resolution intended to unlock the next party-line reconciliation package. 

• The resolution is narrowly focused on defense funding, election-related provisions, and farm aid, with instructions to the House Administration, Agriculture, Armed Services, and Intelligence Committees to develop legislation by September 11.
• The Senate path remains uncertain. Thune has indicated that they will not move on Reconciliation before they pass a government funding bill, which effectively puts the package on ice before the August recess. 

NDAA: The House passed H.R. 8800, the FY2027 National Defense Authorization Act, last week after a difficult and highly partisan floor process. 

• The final House vote was narrow, reflecting Democratic opposition to the bill’s topline defense spending level and policy riders, as well as some GOP defections.
• The Senate has not yet passed its own version, and the final conference process is likely to be complicated by provisions added in the House. These include election-related language and several conservative policy amendments that the Senate is expected to revisit.

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

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House Committee Advances Data Center Energy Bill

July 28, 2026

The House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously advanced the Rate Payer Protection Act (H.R. 9340) last week. 

Why it matters: We previously covered subcommittee action on this bill, which is intended to shift the cost of utility grid upgrades to large power users. 

• The action is one of the first federal legislative efforts to address growing voter concerns and backlash against data centers and utility prices. It largely mirrors President Trump’s Rate Payer Protection Pledge. 
• The bill advanced 52-0.

Go deeper: Ahead of the committee markup, the legislation was narrowed to apply only to data centers. Originally it would have targeted all power uses above 100 megawatts. 

• If enacted the bill would require state regulatory commissions to consider establishing a large-load standard to provide that a rate charged to a large-load customer shall recover the full, incremental cost of any generation, transmission, or distribution upgrade necessary to serve the load of such customer and to provide for financial assurances to cover such upgrades.
• Even if the federal bill becomes law, states could choose to enact or not enact the policy. 
• Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH) introduced a companion bill S. 5028. Husted is in a tough reelection fight where data centers have been featured in attack ads.

What they’re saying: While Republicans and Democrats supported the bill, there were clear differences on how far federal efforts should go. 

Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie (R-KY) opposes a blanket moratorium and urged balance between A.I. innovation and costs: 

What’s next: The House is out until August 31, but it could attempt to vote on the legislation before the election break in October. 

• If Democrats take control of the House, Pallone would likely become chairman of the committee and have significant control over new legislation focused on data centers. 
  
• Even if H.R. 9340 becomes law, the continued political focus will likely remain. 
  

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

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New CREFC Signal Podcast Episode Just Released

July 28, 2026

Episode #2 │ Bank Capital Proposals: What’s Changed, What It Means for CRE Finance, and CREFC’s Plan of Action

David McCarthy, CREFC’s Managing Director, Chief Lobbyist, and Head of Legislative Affairs, is joined by Sairah Burki, Managing Director and Head of Regulatory Affairs at CREFC, and Matthew G. Bisanz, Partner at Mayer Brown LLP, to discuss the recently released bank capital proposals from U.S. regulators and what they could mean for CRE lenders, issuers, and the broader market. The conversation explores what changed from the 2023 proposal, what’s at stake, CREFC’s plan of action, and what comes next.

What they are saying.

• “This is not a ‘submit a letter and walk away’ issue. This bank capital framework is going to shape CRE finance for the next decade or more, so the engagement will definitely continue.” – Sairah Burki
• “If warehouse facilities become punitively more expensive for banks, loan originators will have fewer options for aggregating loans pre-securitization, which could raise execution costs across the CMBS market.” -- Matthew Bisanz

Where to listen:

• Signal Podcast Homepage
• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify

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Economy, the Fed, and Rates…

July 28, 2026

Economic Data & Labor Market

• Growth held near trend with a better mix, but the second half looks softer. Bloomberg Economics estimates second-quarter GDP grew at a 2.0% annualized rate, close to the first quarter's 2.1%, with consumer spending accelerating to 2.4% from 0.5% and AI-related equipment spending rising at a 14.2% rate, against a 1.44 percentage point drag from net exports. Goldman Sachs on July 24 flagged second-half growth running below the first half's 2.25% pace.
• The claims print flattered a labor market that is stable, not tight. Initial claims fell 22,000 to 187,000 in the week ended July 18, the lowest since 1969 and far below the 210,000 consensus, though Bloomberg Economics attributes most of the decline to imperfect seasonal adjustment and looks for a rebound near 200,000. Continuing claims held at 1.8 million and unemployment is 4.2%, but June payrolls added only 57,000, roughly half of forecasts. Few layoffs alongside soft hiring is what lets the Fed concentrate on inflation.
• Tech payrolls and AI capital spending are moving in opposite directions. U.S. technology companies have announced nearly 140,000 job cuts in 2026, with Amazon, Oracle, Meta and Microsoft accounting for almost 50,000. Amazon, Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft plan a combined $725 billion of capital expenditure this year. Operating expense is being converted into capital expenditure, which is why the labor data and the investment data keep telling different stories.
• Post-pandemic job growth is extraordinarily concentrated by geography. A Dallas Fed analysis of BLS data counts nearly 7 million jobs added nationally since February 2020, with the Atlanta (23.3%), Dallas (22.2%), San Francisco (20.2%) and Richmond (11.1%) districts accounting for more than three-quarters of the total against 32,600 jobs in Boston. The national aggregates mask a distribution that maps directly onto multifamily and industrial demand.
  

Federal Reserve Policy

• The July 28–29 meeting is a live decision. Futures ended the week pricing between roughly one-in-three and 38% odds of a quarter-point increase to 3.75%–4.00%, up from about 13% a week earlier, with roughly 80% odds of at least one increase by the September 16 meeting.
• Bloomberg Economics still expects a hawkish hold. June CPI at 3.5% year over year, the largest single-month decline in six years, and a June employment report showing no wage-driven overheating give officials reason to wait. BE looks for the target range unchanged at 3.50%–3.75%, with Chair Kevin Warsh stressing that inflation remains too high and keeping September in play, and estimates June core PCE rose 0.18% with headline inflation easing to 3.7%.
• The case for hiking is no longer a minority view. Headline PCE at 4.1% in May is more than double target, and core PCE has climbed from 2.8% last October to 3.4%. Half of the 18 participants at the June meeting expected to raise rates this year. Lorie Logan has argued for tightening modestly now rather than severely later, and Lisa Cook, Christopher Waller and Philip Jefferson have said a hike becomes harder to postpone if the inflation outlook does not improve.
• Warsh's guidance retreat is itself a market variable. The chair removed the policy bias, shortened the statement, and wants meetings whose outcomes are not settled in advance. With less guidance, the market has more room to price the outcome it thinks the Fed should deliver – or to force one. The MOVE index hit a two-month high on July 23, and Bank of America's rates desk argues that declining to deliver a priced hike is itself an easing.

Treasury Yields & Bond Markets

• Treasuries had their worst week since May, led by the front end. The 2-year rose 16 bps to 4.33%, the 10-year rose 14 bps to 4.68%, and the 30-year rose 10 bps to 5.16%. The 2-year and 10-year finished at their second-highest levels of 2026, each within 3 bps of 52-week highs set July 23; the 30-year closed 2 bps below its 52-week high of 5.18% from May 19.
• The curve bear-flattened, which reads as a policy trade rather than an inflation scare. 2s10s narrowed 2 bps to 35 bps, and 10s30s narrowed 4 bps to 48 bps as the short end led. Short rates had been grinding higher through May and June even while oil fell, so energy is an accelerant rather than the cause. The asymmetry into next week is clean: a hike flattens further by lifting the assumed terminal rate, while a hold that is not convincingly explained pushes long rates higher.
• The long end's problem is structural and global. The 30-year has closed above 5% on 27 days in 2026, including 12 consecutive sessions, the longest run since 2007 – and with the policy rate 150 bps below its 2007 level. The 30-year real yield has risen about 50 bps this year toward 3%, and the 10-year term premium sits near 80 bps against annual federal interest cost above $1 trillion. The Bloomberg Global Treasury Index average yield reached 3.68% on July 23, its highest since 2008.
• AI issuance is now a direct competitor for long-duration capital. Goldman Sachs estimates AI-related companies will borrow more than $480 billion in 2026, up from $322 billion in 2025. The weighted average spread on large AI-related corporate bonds has widened to 157 bps from 136 bps at the start of the year, concentrated in the hyperscalers, while chipmaker spreads have held. Alphabet shed 7% of its market value within a day of lifting 2026 AI investment guidance above $200 billion.

Dollar, Commodities & Market Dynamics

• Oil round-tripped $100 and left a higher floor behind. Brent breached $100 on July 23 for the first time since May, roughly 25% above its level at the June FOMC meeting, before easing back below $100 on July 24 as WTI settled at $90.03. The emergency 400 million-barrel drawdown of global inventories concludes in the third quarter, removing the market's primary shock absorber and raising the odds that further supply deficits clear through demand destruction.
• The energy shock is reaching households directly. Retail gasoline averaged $4.10 a gallon on July 24, up from $3.78 two weeks earlier and within range of the 2026 high of $4.55. With outsized tax refunds fading and borrowing costs rising, second-half consumption should slow even as banks report low delinquencies.
• Equities absorbed the week better than bonds, with the strain concentrated in AI. The S&P 500 was little changed on July 24 while the Nasdaq 100 fell 1.15% and a semiconductor gauge dropped 4.3%. About 85% of S&P 500 companies reporting so far have beaten profit estimates, the highest share in five years, which offsets macro risk without eliminating it. The dollar was little changed.

Policy & Politics

• The tariff wall was rebuilt on firmer legal ground. Section 301 forced-labor duties of 10% to 12.5% took effect July 24 across roughly 60 economies, replacing the 10% global Section 122 tariff that expired the same day. Bloomberg Economics estimates the swap lifts the average effective U.S. tariff rate about 0.1 percentage point to 10.7%, below the 13.5% that prevailed before February's Supreme Court ruling; unlike Section 122, these duties have no expiry. Watch: a pending excess-capacity investigation covers 16 economies accounting for roughly three-quarters of U.S. imports.
• Fed independence is being contested through personnel rather than policy. An external review of the 2023 Silicon Valley Bank failure, commissioned by Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman, is being weighed by administration allies as a possible cause-based route to remove Governor Michael Barr, a month after the Supreme Court blocked the attempted removal of Governor Lisa Cook without defining the standard. The market consequence is a reaction function that is harder to forecast, which shows up in term premium.

CRE Finance Market Implications

• Benchmark and execution costs both moved against borrowers. A 10-year at 4.68% worsens the economics of fixed-rate permanent financing for 2026 maturities, while a live hike debate removes any credible expectation of near-term SOFR relief for floating-rate bridge and construction paper. Rate volatility at a two-month high raises rate-lock and hedging costs and widens execution risk between application and closing, particularly for securitized takeouts.
• Bank capacity is returning, but selectively. Bank of America and U.S. Bancorp reported second-quarter CRE balances up more than 8% year over year, with Truist up about 25% and PNC up 15%. First-quarter originations rose more than 50% year over year, including an 80% increase from depositories. The capital is going to multifamily, industrial, and data-center-adjacent credit under tighter standards, not to legacy office or over-levered transitional assets.
• Housing weakness keeps feeding rental demand. The 30-year fixed mortgage rate rose for a third straight week to 6.58% on July 23, the highest in nearly a year, and June new-home sales rose 1.6% to a 628,000 annualized pace only on discounting – the median price fell 2.7% year over year against 9.3 months of inventory. Households priced out at 6.58% stay renters, supporting multifamily absorption even as the same rate backdrop pressures valuations.
• Construction budgets are absorbing the AI build-out's cost without its volume. Data-center construction spending rose 23% year over year in May but is only 8% of private nonresidential construction, while manufacturing – nearly a quarter of the category – fell 22% to a $174 billion annualized rate. Weighting decides the outcome: 8% growing 23% adds under 2 points to category growth, 24% falling 22% subtracts more than 5. Data centers are too small to hold up volume but large enough to set input prices, since the same transformers, switchgear and electrical labor serve every project – nonresidential materials costs are more than 55% above early-2020 levels, and some electrical equipment backlogs exceed two years. The rest of the market pays those prices on projects underwritten to industrial, retail and multifamily rents, so pre-2024 hard-cost budgets keep coming back unfundable while rising replacement cost supports standing-asset values.
• CRE CLO loss recognition is deferred rather than resolved. KBRA identified only 33 reported principal losses across 6,919 loans in 227 CRE CLOs issued between July 2013 and March 2025, an outcome reflecting loans bought out of trusts as much as collateral performance. A preliminary Philadelphia Fed working paper found that in one $1.7 billion 2021 Arbor deal, 42 of 59 loans had been modified by June 2025 against $18.5 million of appraisal reductions, versus a potential $275 million on full reappraisal. That makes reported loss rates a read on sponsor capacity rather than collateral quality: they stay low while managers can absorb buyouts on balance sheet, and register impairment only once they cannot.

Sources: Bloomberg; Financial Times; Wall Street Journal; New York Times; Washington Post; MarketWatch; The Real Deal.

You can download CREFC's one-page MarketMetrics, which includes statistics covering the economy and the CRE debt capital markets, here.

Contact Raj Aidasani (raidasani@crefc.org) with any questions.

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CRE Securitized Debt Update

July 28, 2026

Private-Label CMBS and CRE CLOs

Three transactions totaling $2.8 billion priced last week:

1. BDS 2026-FL18, a $1.25 billion managed CRE CLO sponsored by Bridge Investment Group and the firm’s 18th CRE CLO securitization. The initial pool comprises 26 floating-rate, interest-only loans totaling $1.064 billion and secured by 30 properties, plus $186.4 million of ramp cash, with a 180-day ramp-up period and 30-month reinvestment period. Fitch classifies the collateral as multifamily (94.9%) and hotel (5.1%); top states are Texas (41.0%), Florida (29.2%), and Georgia (10.6%). The largest loan is a $101.5 million mortgage on Residences at the Triangle, a 529-unit apartment complex in Austin.
2. AREIT 2026-CRE12, an $808.8 million managed CRE CLO sponsored by Argentic. The initial collateral pool comprises four whole loans and 15 loan participations secured by 34 properties across 13 states, with a 30-month reinvestment period. Property-type concentrations are multifamily (51.1%), industrial (19.1%), hotel (16.7%), self-storage (5.7%), office (4.2%), and retail (3.2%); top states are California (17.6%), Georgia (13.8%), and Florida (12.3%). The largest exposure is an $85 million portion of a $107 million Brookfield loan on Atelier, a 363-unit apartment tower in Los Angeles.
3. KELR 2026-MF, a $718.5 million SASB backed by a floating-rate, interest-only loan for Keller Investment Properties to refinance 13 multifamily properties totaling 3,321 units in Utah, Nevada, and Arizona. The portfolio comprises 10 garden-style apartment complexes, two midrise properties, and one student housing asset; it is 93.4% occupied, with state concentrations in Utah (50.8%), Nevada (32.2%), and Arizona (17.0%). The loan has a two-year initial term plus three one-year extension options; proceeds retire $696.3 million of existing debt, fund the interest-rate cap, and cover closing costs. The largest property is the 462-unit Firenze apartments in Henderson, NV, representing 12.3% of the allocated loan amount.

By the numbers: YTD 2026 private-label CMBS and CRE CLO issuance totaled $103.9 billion, up 21% from the $85.7 billion for the same period last year.

Spreads Mostly Hold Steady

• Conduit AAA and A-S spreads were unchanged at +70 and +100, respectively.
• Conduit AA, A, and BBB- spreads were unchanged at +130, +175, and +415, respectively.
• SASB AAA spreads ranged from +85 to +175 across property types and structures. Fixed-rate data center AAA spreads widened 5 basis points to +159, while floating-rate data center AAA spreads held at +175.
• CRE CLO AAA spreads were unchanged at +130/+135 for static/managed deals; BBB- spreads remained at +300 for both.

Agency CMBS

• Agency issuance totaled $5.3 billion last week, comprising $2.5 billion in Fannie DUS, $1.2 billion in Freddie Multi-PCs, a $1 billion Freddie K transaction, and $450.7 million in Ginnie transactions.
• Agency issuance for YTD 2026 totaled $96.9 billion, 23% higher than the $78.8 billion recorded for the same period in 2025.
  

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Congress and Crypto Market Regulation

July 28, 2026

Last week, Senate Republicans released updated text for the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (H.R. 3633), combining versions approved by the Senate Banking and Agriculture Committees. 

Why it matters: The CLARITY Act represents Congress’s most significant effort to create a comprehensive regulatory framework for digital assets. The bill seeks to clarify when digital assets are regulated as securities and address longstanding uncertainty for cryptocurrency companies, investors, and regulators. 

What they’re saying: Groups backing the bill, including cryptocurrency exchanges, blockchain companies, and venture capital investors argue that the bill provides much-needed regulatory clarity, and helps keep digital asset investment and development in the United States. 

Those opposed to the bill include, consumer advocacy organizations, labor groups, community banking associations, and some lawmakers, who argue that the framework may weaken investor protections, create opportunities for regulatory arbitrage, and fail to adequately address financial stability concerns.

The big picture: The House passed an earlier version of the bill with bipartisan support (294-134) in July 2025. 

• The Senate Banking Committee advanced the legislation 15-9 in May 2026, with two Democrats joining all Republicans.
• However, the bill as currently written in unlikely to pass the Senate without major changes to ethics and enforcement sections. In order to pass the chamber, it will need to garner the support of seven Democrats.

The recently released legislation includes a White House-approved ethics provision that would temporarily prohibit public officials, including presidents and their spouses, from issuing or sponsoring digital assets. 

• Democratic opponents have focused particular criticism on these provisions because enforcement would rest exclusively with the Department of Justice (DOJ), with no authority granted to state attorneys general and no private right of action. 
• Key Democrats recently released a statement noting they remain opposed until changes are made to these sections.

Notably absent from that statement was Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), one of the Senate’s leading advocates for digital asset legislation and a key negotiator on the CLARITY Act.

• Progressives have criticized Gillibrand’s continued support and contend that the legislation remains too favorable to the cryptocurrency industry. Gillibrand’s support underscores broader divisions within the Democratic Party between moderates and progressives, with the CLARITY Act serving as another battleground.

What’s next: The CLARITY Act now faces a critical period for its passage, as they are only 19 voting days left in the Senate before the election. 

Both chambers of Congress are in serious contention to flip in favor of Democrats after the midterm elections, which could complicate a path to this proposed legislation becoming law.

Please contact James Montfort (jmontfort@crefc.org) with any questions.

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