Värde Partners closed $946 million in U.S. commercial real estate (CRE) loans across 14 transactions in the fourth quarter of 2021. In total, Värde’s CRE lending platform originated over $2.7 billion in 2021, spanning hospitality, office, multifamily, industrial and mixed-use assets.

Värde expects the elevated demand for U.S. CRE loans to continue into 2022 with favorable supply/demand dynamics against the backdrop of a CRE CapEx cycle. From population growth and a migration to the Sunbelt states, to continued changes in travel and questions around office space requirements, most properties are faced with addressing a number of new or accelerated trends, resulting in a significant need for transitional debt capital.

“The way people are using commercial real estate is fundamentally changing, requiring landlords and tenants alike to evaluate how they utilize assets and reposition for the post-pandemic environment. This is driving a significant and growing demand for shorter-term transitional or bridge real estate loans, with borrowers increasingly looking to alternative lenders like Värde to structure the right loan for their property. We believe the types of flexible financing solutions Värde provides will continue to be important over the coming year as the market adjusts to new behaviors and tenant demands,” said Jim Dunbar, Partner and Head of Real Estate Lending at Värde.

Fourth Quarter Loans

Loans closed over the quarter include:

• $148 million for the refinance of a hospitality property in San Diego, California.
• $120 million for the acquisition of a hospitality property in Miami, Florida.
• $115 million for the acquisition of a multifamily property in St. Petersburg, Florida.
• $110 million for the acquisition of a hospitality property in Phoenix, Arizona.
• $88 million for the refinance of a hospitality property in Montauk, New York.
• $69 million for the acquisition of a multifamily property in Houston, Texas.
• $53 million for the refinance of a hospitality property in Washington, DC.
• $52 million for the refinance of a multifamily property in Lewisville, Texas.
• $47 million for the refinance of a hospitality property in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
• $35 million for the acquisition of a student housing property in Miami, Florida
• $29 million for the acquisition of a multifamily property in Carlsbad, California.
• $29 million for the refinance of a hospitality property in Aurora, Colorado.
• $28 million for the refinance of a multifamily property in Los Angeles, California.
• $23 million for the refinance of an office property in Los Angeles, California.

Värde has 28 years of experience investing in real estate and credit markets and has originated over $5 billion in CRE loans since 2017. The firm has a dedicated team of experienced origination, asset management and capital markets professionals.

Through its CRE lending program, Värde is a non-recourse, balance sheet lender financing all major asset classes, plus mixed-use and self-storage. Värde focuses on providing flexible capital and certainty of execution to meet the needs of experienced real estate investors.

In 2021, Värde closed the first-ever fully hotel-backed CRE CLO at $527 million, which was comprised of 11 loans originated to help hospitality properties bridge to a post-pandemic recovery, as well as the firm’s largest CRE CLO at $928 million.

The firm has a clean securitization track record, having experienced zero losses to date, no overcollateralization test breaches, and five of its nine securitizations successfully paid off.