Rental Housing Weekly Briefing: February 9-13, 2026

Subscribe

This week’s Rental Housing Weekly Briefing examines emerging signals from the Federal Reserve’s Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on multifamily credit conditions, alongside recent trends in multifamily CMBS delinquencies as reported by Trepp, and the key data releases to watch in the week ahead.

LAST WEEK in RENTAL HOUSING 

Multifamily Underwriting via Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey

• Multifamily underwriting has moved into net easing, ahead of other CRE segments. In Q1 2026, a net 5.5% of lenders reported loosening underwriting standards for multifamily loans. By contrast, standards for nonfarm nonresidential loans remain slightly net-tight (-3.6%), and construction and land development lending is only marginally restrictive (-1.8%). Multifamily is now the most advanced segment in the easing cycle.

• The tightening cycle has unwound far more quickly in multifamily than elsewhere. At its peak in 2023, net tightening for multifamily exceeded 65%, broadly in line with other CRE categories. Since then, multifamily has seen the sharpest and most consistent moderation, reflecting improving visibility into property-level performance and a clearer post-supply outlook relative to office and other nonresidential assets.

• Borrower demand remains soft, but multifamily is stabilizing faster than other segments. In Q1 2026, a net 1.9% of lenders reported weaker demand for multifamily loans, a marked improvement from the deeply negative readings of 2022–2023. While demand for nonfarm nonresidential and construction loans shows modest improvement, multifamily demand dynamics appear closer to flat than contractionary.

• Taken together, the data point to a selective reopening of multifamily credit rather than a broad CRE recovery. Easing standards alongside stabilizing — but not surging — borrower demand suggest lenders are becoming more willing to transact in multifamily where fundamentals are understood, even as caution persists across higher-risk CRE segments.

Multifamily CMBS Delinquency Trends via Trepp

• Multifamily CMBS delinquency moved higher in January 2026, rising 30 basis points month over month to 6.94%. The increase follows a comparable decline in December and reflects continued refinancing and maturity-related pressure rather than a deterioration in operating fundamentals.

• Even with the recent uptick, multifamily delinquency remains well below office and broadly in line with where the sector has been oscillating over the past several quarters. Stress continues to be driven by capital structure constraints and rate lock-in, not tenant demand or rent collections.

• For context, the overall US CMBS delinquency rate rose to 7.47% in January, driven primarily by further deterioration in office loans, where delinquency reached a new cycle high. That divergence reinforces that multifamily is not the primary source of stress within the securitized market.

• Including loans that are current on interest but past maturity, multifamily faces elevated extension risk alongside other property types. For rental housing, the takeaway is ongoing balance-sheet pressure rather than a fundamental demand shock, consistent with a slow, uneven adjustment to higher-for-longer rates.

THE WEEK AHEAD 

February 11, 2026:

• January 2026 Jobs Report (BLS)

February 12, 2026:

• Existing Home Sales (NAR)

February 13, 2026:

• Consumer Price Index (BLS)