CMBS Issuance

Plotting issuance volume of CMBS in the US and Moody's Commercial Property Price Index is quite informative.


(Source: Bloomberg. Click to enlarge)

First, CMBS issuance was almost inexistent in 2008, and will probably be even worse this year. We're back to early-1990's levels. We can also note that CMBS had the same gogo years as Residential MBS, in 05, o6 and 07.

Second, the impact of CMBS issuance, or lack thereof, on values of commercial properties is quite clear, as we would intuitively expect. Property prices peaked with CMBS issuance, and are falling with it -- although fortunately at a slower pace.

BTW, for those interested in this topics, here's an interesting link on CMBS issuance in Europe.