Lenders pulled back. Capital didn't disappear, it moved. Knowing where it went is the difference between deals that close and deals that die in committee.

Why traditional lenders stepped back

The Fed raised rates faster than at any time in forty years. Cap rates didn't follow fast enough. The math broke. Regional banks, already nervous after the SVB shock, tightened the screws on every CRE deal that crossed a desk.

Underwriting got stricter. Debt service coverage minimums climbed. Loan-to-value ceilings dropped. Deals that would have closed in three weeks suddenly took three months. Or didn't close at all.

For brokers and borrowers, the change felt sudden. For lenders, it was math. The cost of capital went up. The risk-adjusted return on real estate didn't keep pace. So they wrote less paper and watched.

“

Same sponsors. Same financials. Different math.

Senior originator, Northeast regional bank

Where the money kept moving

Debt funds didn't blink. Credit unions saw an opening. Life insurance companies kept writing paper. Every category that wasn't a regional bank stepped into the gap. They're closing deals right now.

Multifamily and industrial

These two never really cooled. Stabilized assets with strong rent rolls still draw competitive quotes. Sponsors with skin in the game are getting term sheets in days, not months. The story isn't that capital dried up. It's that capital got pickier.

Bridge lending got bigger

Repositioning plays like value-add multifamily, industrial conversions, and hotel-to-residential moved to bridge lenders almost entirely. The cost is higher. So is the speed. Sponsors who used to wait six months for permanent debt are now closing bridge in twelve days and refinancing later.

Three rules for your next deal

01
Equity matters more than ever
Sponsors putting 35–40% down are getting better terms than sponsors at 25%. The cushion isn't optional. It's the conversation.
02
Wider nets close faster
The brokers winning right now aren't calling fewer banks. They're casting wider, and faster, across the full lender universe.
03
Speed beats relationship
A lender you've never met can win a deal in 48 hours. The five banks you've worked with for years can take eight weeks to say no.

The market shifted. The deals are still there. The path just changed.

If your pipeline feels slower, it's not because capital dried up. It's because the lenders writing today aren't the ones you called last year. Find them faster, and you'll close like nothing changed.

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