KBRA releases the April 2026 issue of CMBS Trend Watch.

Commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) private label issuance began to gather steam again in April as deals that were delayed due to geopolitical events came to market. While geopolitical concerns still exist, spreads have tightened and it appears that market sentiment has improved. In addition, with the Federal Reserve leaving interest rates unchanged in April, rate stability could boost issuance.

In April, 17 CMBS deals closed compared to 12 in March. These included 15 single-borrower (SB) and two conduits, bringing year-to-date (YTD) issuance to $42 billion. On a year-over-year (YoY) basis, YTD issuance is up slightly by 2.8%. Commercial real estate (CRE) collateralized loan obligation (CLO) issuance consisted of three deals with YTD issuance of $18.1 billion for a 57.7% YoY increase. For May, based on our current visibility, there are up to 20 deals that could launch, including nine SB, five conduits, five CRE CLOs, and one Freddie Mac fixed rate K-Deal (Agency).

In April, KBRA published pre-sales for 10 deals ($11.1 billion), including five SB ($4.3 billion), two conduits ($1.2 billion), one Agency ($1.3 billion), one CRE CLO ($1 billion), and one re-remic ($3.3 billion). April's surveillance activity included rating reviews of 482 securities. Of the 482 ratings, 412 were affirmed (85.5%), 60 were downgraded (12.4%), and 10 were upgraded (2.1%). In addition, five ratings were placed on Watch Downgrade (DN) and three maintained Watch DN statuses.

This month's edition also highlights recent KBRA research publications that cover various topical issues.

Click here to view the report.

Recent Publications

• CMBS Trend Watch: March 2026
• CMBS Loan Performance Trends: April 2026
• KBRA Global Rating Stability and Transition Study: 2011-2025
• Metro-Level CRE Loan Distress: Bifurcated Performance
• Institutional SFR Ownership Limits Could Slow Sector Growth
• Anatomy of Loss in Single-Borrower CMBS: A Loan-Level Analysis
• Data Center Leases: Variations on Established Themes
• Evolving Data Center Landscape: Insights & Implementation Breakfast—KBRA Event Recap
• 2026 U.S. CMBS Outlook: Issuance Momentum Builds; Loan Distress Remains Elevated
• 2025 CMBS Loan Maturities: Office Drives Improving Refinance Rates
• KBRA CMBS Loss Compendium Update: December 2025
• Single-Borrower CMBS Default and Loss Study: Shaped by Unprecedented Events

About KBRA

KBRA, one of the major credit rating agencies, is registered in the U.S., EU, and the UK. KBRA is recognized as a Qualified Rating Agency in Taiwan, and is also a Designated Rating Organization for structured finance ratings in Canada. As a full-service credit rating agency, investors can use KBRA ratings for regulatory capital purposes in multiple jurisdictions.

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