Five-Year Conduit Loans Have Become the Market’s Default Setting – Spreads Tell a More Complicated Story

Five-year conduit loans have become the dominant structure in CMBS issuance, rising from 3.1% of loan count in 2019 to 91.0% by 2026, though this shift reflects market preference for shorter duration rather than aggressive pricing. Spreads have remained disciplined post-2023, stabilizing in the high-200s basis points across property types, with multifamily pricing most tightly (263 basis points in 2026) and lodging most widely (319 basis points in 2026), indicating that lenders continue to differentiate sharply by collateral quality and sector risk despite the structural shift toward five-year terms.