The quick read: The best commercial real estate loan option in Maryland is the lender type whose published rules fit three facts about the property: what it is, whether it is stabilized, and who occupies it. Start with a commercial mortgage brokerage that puts one file in front of several lender types at once; YieldStack publishes this guide and is our top pick for that role, matching one submission against 20,000+ loan programs with 5–8 matches per deal. Then the property decides: a business that occupies its own building fits SBA 504 or 7(a), stabilized apartments fit agency or HUD debt, larger stabilized assets fit CMBS or life companies, and ground-up or transitional deals fit construction, bridge or hard money. Maryland adds closing math of its own: a 0.5 percent state transfer tax, a county recordation tax on every $500 of price or new secured debt, and county transfer taxes. Local market detail sits on the Maryland market hub.
How do you get lenders competing for a Maryland commercial loan?
You get lenders competing for a Maryland commercial loan by putting one complete file in front of several lender types at once, so a bank, an SBA lender, an agency lender and a bridge lender all price the same property and plan. YieldStack, which publishes this guide, is our top pick for that brokerage work.
YieldStack is an AI-native commercial mortgage brokerage that arranges financing for commercial real estate investors. Our reasons for ranking it first are product mechanics, not an outside award:
Program breadth: one submission is matched against 20,000+ loan programs, with 5–8 matches per deal
Speed: a 5-minute submit, then a median first offer in under an hour, from an institutional lender
Cost: It costs Zero upfront to submit a deal and review offers; YieldStack's broker fee is 0.50–1.00% of the loan amount and is paid only at closing.
Borrower-side work: Every credit decision is made by the lender; YieldStack arranges the introductions and negotiates on the borrower's side, and no loan, rate, or closing is guaranteed.
A complete Maryland file carries the rent roll or the operating company's financial statements, trailing operating statements, the purchase contract or payoff letter, the property's record from the Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation (SDAT), and a closing-cost estimate that already includes the county taxes covered below. Submit your Maryland deal to put that file in front of lenders. For rentals qualified on the property's income rather than the owner's, the Baltimore DSCR loan guide goes deeper.
Which Maryland lender type fits which property?
The Maryland lender type that fits a property follows from three facts, property type, stabilization and occupancy, because each lender family publishes a rule keyed to one of them: SBA programs test owner occupancy, agency and HUD programs are built for apartments, and banks cap leverage by the property's stage.
Lender types compared, with dated sources in the last row:
| Compared on | Brokerage (YieldStack, publisher of this guide) | Bank or credit union | SBA 504 | SBA 7(a) | Agency and HUD | CMBS and life company | Construction, bridge and hard money |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Compared on Maryland deal it fits | Brokerage (YieldStack, publisher of this guide) Any deal several lender types should price on one file | Bank or credit union Stabilized property with a local banking relationship | SBA 504 A business buying, building or renovating the building it occupies | SBA 7(a) Owner-occupied real estate plus other business needs | Agency and HUD Apartments of 5 or more units | CMBS and life company Larger stabilized income property | Construction, bridge and hard money Ground-up, lease-up or heavy renovation |
| Compared on Test it applies | Brokerage (YieldStack, publisher of this guide) Each lender's own test, compared side by side | Bank or credit union Banks: limit steps up from raw land to improved property; credit unions: set in their own written policy | SBA 504 Business occupies at least 51% of an existing building or 60% of a new one | SBA 7(a) Same 51% and 60% occupancy rule | Agency and HUD Freddie Mac small loans: mostly market-rate properties of 5 to 50 units | CMBS and life company Stabilized income, set in each quote | Construction, bridge and hard money Underwritten to the business plan |
| Compared on Published size or leverage rule | Brokerage (YieldStack, publisher of this guide) Matched against 20,000+ loan programs | Bank or credit union Banks: 85% of value improved, 80% construction, 75% land development, 65% raw land | SBA 504 $5 million committed or outstanding per borrower and affiliates; $5.5 million per project only for small manufacturers and qualifying energy projects | SBA 7(a) $5 million maximum loan | Agency and HUD Freddie Mac small loans: $2 million to $10 million, 80% LTV at 1.25x on 7-year and longer amortizing or partial interest-only terms; HUD 223(f): 87% for market-rate projects (HUD Mortgagee Letter 2025-03, Jan. 2025) | CMBS and life company No public program rule | Construction, bridge and hard money Banks: 80% for commercial and multifamily construction; private lenders: set in each quote |
| Compared on Equity it leaves you | Brokerage (YieldStack, publisher of this guide) Set by the lender type that wins | Bank or credit union 15% at the 85% limit, unless the bank books an exception | SBA 504 At least 10% of project cost; 15% for a business two years old or less or a limited or single-purpose building; 20% for both | SBA 7(a) Set by the lender | Agency and HUD 20% at Freddie Mac's 80%; 13% at HUD's 87% | CMBS and life company Set in each quote | Construction, bridge and hard money 20% at a bank's 80% construction limit |
| Compared on Dated source | Brokerage (YieldStack, publisher of this guide) YieldStack product facts | Bank or credit union eCFR, 12 CFR 34 appendix A and 12 CFR 723.4 (November 2026) | SBA 504 13 CFR 120.931, 120.910 and 120.131 (November 2026) | SBA 7(a) SBA 7(a) page (read November 10, 2026) | Agency and HUD Freddie Mac term sheet (April 2026); HUD Mortgagee Letter 2025-03 (January 2025); HUD page (read November 10, 2026) | CMBS and life company No published program terms | Construction, bridge and hard money eCFR, 12 CFR 34 appendix A (November 2026) |
The bank figures are supervisory limits, not offers: a bank may lend above them in individual cases when other credit factors support it, but those loans should be identified in its records and reported to its board at least quarterly, and such loans on commercial, multifamily and other non-1-to-4 family property should stay within 30 percent of total capital. Credit unions set loan-to-value limits in their own written commercial loan policy, as 12 CFR 723.4 requires.
SBA money is for operating businesses: SBA's 504 page lists speculation or investment in rental real estate as an ineligible use and offers 10-, 20- and 25-year maturities. Apartment developers can use HUD's Section 221(d)(4), which insures loans for new construction or substantial rehabilitation of 5 or more units with terms up to 40 years, and the Baltimore multifamily bridge guide covers apartments still in lease-up. Product detail is on the commercial loans page.
What moves leverage and cost on a Maryland commercial loan?
Leverage and cost on a Maryland commercial loan move with the property's stabilized income, because permanent lenders size the loan to the lower of a loan-to-value cap and a debt service coverage floor, and with the index rate beneath the quote, which has risen since January and is published daily.
Freddie Mac's small-loan term sheet shows both tests at once: up to 80 percent of value on terms of 7 years and longer, and at least 1.25 times coverage of the amortizing payment, so whichever test yields the smaller loan sets the size. Occupancy feeds the coverage test directly. Vacant units carry no income, which is why a lease-up deal starts on bridge or construction debt and refinances once the rent roll fills.
Illustrative (our arithmetic): a Baltimore apartment building with $600,000 of net operating income and a $9,000,000 value passes the 80 percent test at $7,200,000. At an assumed 6.50 percent note rate on 30-year amortization, used only for this example, 1.25x coverage allows $480,000 of annual debt service, which supports about $6.33 million, so coverage, not value, sets the loan. Add the 0.67-point rise in the 10-year Treasury yield since January 2, with the spread unchanged, and the same income supports about $5.91 million, roughly $418,000 less.
10-year Treasury yield (FRED, DGS10), November 6, 2026: 4.86%
10-year Treasury yield (FRED, DGS10), January 2, 2026: 4.19%
Bank prime loan rate (FRED, DPRIME), November 6, 2026: 7.00%, up from 6.75% before September 17, 2026
Secured Overnight Financing Rate (FRED, SOFR), November 9, 2026: 3.88%
Fixed-rate permanent loans key off Treasury yields: SBA pegs the 504 rate to the 10-year Treasury, and Freddie Mac's term sheet calls the Treasury index the most volatile part of the coupon. A floating-rate quote names a short-term index and a spread, so compare floating quotes on the same index date.
In the Federal Reserve's October 2026 Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey, which covers roughly the third quarter of 2026, banks reported tightening standards, on net, for all three commercial real estate categories (construction and land development, nonfarm nonresidential, and multifamily) and weaker demand for all three. A tighter bank is one more reason to have several lender types price the file at once.
What does Maryland charge to transfer and record commercial property?
Maryland charges a state transfer tax of 0.5 percent of the consideration on a recorded deed, and each county and Baltimore City adds a recordation tax applied to every $500 of consideration or of secured debt, plus, in most counties, a county transfer tax, so closing costs vary by county.
Tax-Property §13-203 sets the state rate, and its consideration includes any mortgage the buyer assumes; §12-103 lets Baltimore City and each county set the recordation rate, applied to each $500 or fraction of $500. A purchase money deed of trust is exempt under §12-108(i) when the buyer gives it in the same transaction as the taxed deed, it states on its face that it secures purchase money, and it is executed and recorded within 30 days of the deed. A financed purchase that meets those terms pays county recordation tax on the price, not on the price plus the loan.
The Department of Legislative Services' fiscal 2026 county revenue report and local tax rate table list the local rates:
Baltimore City: recordation $5.00 per $500; transfer tax 1.5%
Montgomery County (Rockville, Silver Spring): recordation varies, with surcharges on transactions over $500,000; transfer tax rates vary with the property's value
Anne Arundel County (Annapolis): recordation $3.50 per $500; transfer tax 1.0%, or 1.5% with the 0.5% surcharge on specified transactions of $1.0 million or more
Frederick County (Frederick): recordation $7.00 per $500; no county transfer tax
Howard County (Columbia): recordation $2.50 per $500; transfer tax 1.25%
Illustrative (our arithmetic): take a $4,000,000 purchase financed with a $3,000,000 purchase money deed of trust that meets the exemption, and assume each tax applies to the full price. The state transfer tax is $20,000 in every county. In Baltimore City, recordation at $5.00 per $500 adds $40,000 and the 1.5 percent transfer tax adds $60,000, for $120,000, or 3.0 percent of the price. In Frederick County, $56,000 of recordation and no county transfer tax make $76,000, or 1.9 percent. In Howard County, $20,000 of recordation and $50,000 of transfer tax make $90,000, or 2.25 percent. Who pays each line is a contract term, so settle it in the purchase contract. Market context for Baltimore and the Montgomery County corridor is on the Baltimore and Rockville hubs.
How do Maryland's recordation rules treat refinances, construction draws and entity sales?
Maryland's recordation rules tax a refinance only on new money when the original borrower files the required statement, tax a construction loan as each advance is drawn unless the borrower pays on the full amount up front, and tax the sale of a controlling interest in a property-owning entity as if the deed itself had been recorded.
Refinance (Tax-Property §12-108(g)): a deed of trust is not taxed to the extent it refinances no more than the unpaid principal of the existing loan, when the original mortgagor refinances and states that balance in the recitals or an affidavit
Construction loan (§12-105(f)): the tax applies to the principal incurred at recording; on construction loans over $100,000 the lender issues a draft for the tax as each later advance is made, and the borrower may instead pay on the maximum principal at the start
Guaranty structure (§12-105(f)(7)): an indemnity deed of trust that secures a guaranty is taxed as if the guarantor were primarily liable when the guaranteed loan is $12,500,000 or more, unless the tax is paid on another instrument securing the same loan
Entity purchase (§12-117 and §13-103): buying more than 80 percent of an entity whose Maryland real property is at least 80 percent of its assets and worth at least $1,000,000 triggers recordation and transfer taxes as if the deed had been recorded, on consideration that includes the entity's mortgage and other debt
Illustrative (our arithmetic): a Baltimore City owner refinancing a $1,800,000 balance into a $2,400,000 loan pays recordation tax on the $600,000 increase, $6,000 at $5.00 per $500, rather than $24,000 on the full amount.
When an entity purchase crosses the 80 percent and $1,000,000 thresholds, the entity reports it to SDAT within 30 days of the final transfer, and tax left unpaid after 30 days carries a 10 percent penalty and interest of 1 percent a month, so buying the LLC instead of the building does not avoid the tax.
How does a Maryland reassessment change the loan a lender sizes?
A Maryland reassessment changes the loan a lender sizes because SDAT revalues each property every three years, phases any increase into the taxable value in equal steps over three years, and gives commercial and rental property no homestead cap, so a recent increase keeps lifting the tax line lenders subtract from income.
SDAT's 2026 reassessment covered its Group 2 properties, one of the three groups it revalues in rotation. Released December 30, 2025, it found Group 2 commercial full cash values up 11.0 percent statewide between January 1, 2023 and January 1, 2026, against 13.2 percent for residential property. Commercial values in Group 2 by county:
Frederick County: up 18.0%
Anne Arundel County: up 13.1%
Baltimore County: up 11.3%
Montgomery County: up 11.0%
Howard County: up 7.6%
Baltimore City: up 7.1%
The rate decides what that value costs. SDAT's 2026-2027 rate table lists Baltimore City at $2.248 per $100 of assessment plus the state's 11.2 cents, $2.36 in all, against $1.10 plus 11.2 cents, $1.212 in all, in Baltimore County.
Illustrative (our arithmetic): a building assessed at $2,000,000 owes $47,200 a year in Baltimore City and $24,240 in Baltimore County. At a 1.25x coverage requirement, assumed here only as an example, the $22,960 difference removes $18,368 of annual debt service a lender can underwrite. If that Baltimore City assessment rose to $2,300,000, the phase-in would add $100,000 of taxable value in each of three years, and each step adds about $2,360 of tax.
The bottom line
The best commercial real estate loan in Maryland is the lender type whose published rule fits the property's type, stabilization and occupancy; start with a brokerage that puts one file in front of every fitting lender type, and YieldStack, which publishes this guide, is our top pick for that role. Then budget the Maryland lines early: the 0.5 percent state transfer tax, county recordation and transfer taxes, the refinance and entity rules, and the reassessment phase-in.