# Industrial Lender Criteria Research

## Purpose

- Supports `knowledge/industrial-lender-criteria.md`
- Intended to justify reusable lender-fit guidance for U.S. industrial debt sourcing

## U.S.-Only Assumptions

- Focus is U.S. industrial acquisitions and recapitalizations
- Includes banks, life companies, CMBS, and bridge / debt funds
- SBA 504 is treated as a separate owner-user exception, not part of investor acquisition lending

## Source Table

| Source | Publisher | URL | Publish Date | Access Date | Source Type | Notes |
|--------|-----------|-----|--------------|-------------|-------------|-------|
| 504 Loans | U.S. Small Business Administration | https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/loans/504-loans | 2026-03-30 | 2026-04-22 | Primary government source | Owner-user eligibility and terms |
| 2025 Commercial Mortgage Program Fact Sheet | MetLife Investment Management | https://investments.metlife.com/content/dam/metlifecom/us/investments/pdf/2025-commercial-mortgage-program-fact-sheet.pdf | 2025-10 | 2026-04-22 | Quasi-primary lender source | Fixed, floating, transitional, mezzanine, and construction parameters |
| Core Financing Tear Sheet May 2025 | PGIM Real Estate | https://www.pgim.com/content/dam/pgim/us/en/pgim-real-estate/active/documents/program-sheets/Core-Financing-Tear-Sheet-May-2025.pdf | 2025-05 | 2026-04-22 | Quasi-primary lender source | Core financing parameters and property-type coverage |
| Core Debt Strategy Page | PGIM Real Estate | https://www.pgim.com/fr/en/institutional/investment-capabilities/strategies/alternatives/real-estate/debt/core-debt | n.d. | 2026-04-22 | Quasi-primary lender source | Senior debt positioning across sectors |
| Commercial Real Estate Lending Activity Increases in Q1 2025 | CBRE | https://www.cbre.com/press-releases/commercial-real-estate-lending-activity-increases-in-q1-2025 | 2025-04 | 2026-04-22 | Institutional capital-markets research | Non-agency lender mix, spreads, debt yield, LTV |
| U.S. Capital Markets Q4 2025 | CBRE | https://www.cbre.com/insights/figures/q4-2025-us-capital-markets-figures | 2026-02-03 | 2026-04-22 | Institutional capital-markets research | Year-end lender mix |
| Quarterly Survey of Commercial / Multifamily Mortgage Bankers Originations | MBA | https://www.mba.org/docs/default-source/research-and-forecasts/cmf-originations-index/4q25cmforiginationssurvey.pdf?sfvrsn=d55d4983_1 | 2026-02 | 2026-04-22 | Institutional industry survey | Industrial lending activity by lender type |
| First Half 2025 CMBS Issuance Up 35% from 2024 | Trepp | https://www.trepp.com/trepptalk/cmbs-issuance-up-in-first-half-2025 | 2025-07 | 2026-04-22 | Institutional market data | CMBS issuance and liquidity context |
| CMBS Delinquency Rate Declines in February 2026 | Trepp | https://www.trepp.com/trepptalk/cmbs-delinquency-rate-declines-in-february-2026-led-by-large-office-retail-loan-extensions | 2026-03 | 2026-04-22 | Institutional market data | Relative industrial CMBS credit performance |
| U.S. Commercial Real Estate Chartbook June 2025 | MetLife Investment Management | https://investments.metlife.com/insights/real-estate/us-commercial-real-estate-chartbook-june-2025/ | 2025-06 | 2026-04-22 | Institutional market outlook | Industrial value and debt-market context |

## Key Findings

- Industrial lender criteria should be organized by lender type and use case, not just by leverage.
- Life companies and other core lenders generally prefer larger, durable, institutional-quality industrial assets with strong tenancy and moderate leverage.
- Banks remain important for relationship lending, regional knowledge, smaller-balance loans, and recourse-friendly executions.
- CMBS is strongest where industrial cash flow is durable, term is sufficient, and loan size / documentation justify conduit or SASB execution.
- Bridge and alternative lenders remain essential for lease-up, transitional, release, and repositioning scenarios.
- Owner-user SBA 504 loans are relevant only when the borrower is occupying the real estate; they are not acquisition financing for passive investors.

## Benchmark and Formula Decisions

- The knowledge base should classify lender fit by:
  - stabilization vs transition
  - tenant quality
  - WALT and rollover
  - loan size
  - property quality and market
  - sponsor flexibility needs
- It should present ranges directionally rather than as locked numbers, especially for:
  - spreads
  - LTV
  - debt yield
  - IO availability
- It should emphasize that industrial financing fit is as much about **execution certainty** as nominal coupon.

## Conflicting Source Resolution

- Quarter-to-quarter lender share data changes quickly; use it to describe current capital availability, not immutable hierarchy.
- Lender fact sheets are marketing or program summaries and should be treated as fit indicators, not credit approvals.
- CMBS health metrics and issuance data are useful for understanding market openness, but not enough on their own to assume borrower fit.

## Edge Cases and Red Flags

- Short remaining lease term can push a seemingly high-quality asset out of permanent-loan execution
- Specialized buildings may receive weaker proceeds or narrower lender interest
- Smaller-balance industrial loans may depend more heavily on local bank appetite than national lender rhetoric suggests
- Investor-owned industrial should never be routed into SBA logic unless occupancy rules are actually satisfied

## Open Questions

- Whether future versions should add a dedicated industrial construction and development financing note
- Whether later versions should separate single-tenant net-lease industrial from multi-tenant warehouse criteria
- Whether later releases should add C-PACE and equipment-financing overlays where relevant
