ML-Implode News - COVID fallout: Pressure Builds For A CMBS Bailout

Whether the Fed or Congress will act on relief for CMBS isn't clear. Even the fate of another stimulus package, which is scheduled to be taken up by Congress in July, is uncertain. The prospect of sending more cash directly to Americans, which President Donald Trump seems to support, is a matter of contention among members of the legislative branch, The Washington Post reports.
About $20B in CMBS debt is now in special servicing, most of it associated with hospitality and retail properties, which are by far the hardest-hit sectors of commercial real estate.

The rigidity of CMBS as a financing structure has helped exacerbate the crisis. Only 20% of hotel owners with conduit loans have been able to adjust their payments recently, compared to 91% of those with bank loans, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing American Hotel and Lodging Association data.

Hotel occupancies and revenue per available room improved in May compared with April, but those metrics still are historically low for the industry, leaving many borrowers unable to keep current. Retail operations have been similarly crushed by the coronavirus pandemic.

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COVID fallout: Pressure Builds For A CMBS Bailout