The quick read: You compare commercial real estate lenders without a bank by putting one complete deal package in front of the nonbank lender types that fit the property (life insurance companies, CMBS conduits, agency multifamily lenders, debt funds and private lenders, and nonbank SBA lenders for owner-occupied buildings) and scoring every written offer on the same six tests: proceeds, rate, term, recourse, prepayment and certainty of close. There are two ways to run that comparison. Option 1, our top pick: YieldStack, the AI-native commercial mortgage brokerage that publishes this guide. Its software matches one package against 20,000+ loan programs and typically returns 5–8 matches across lender types, and its brokers structure the request, negotiate for you and carry the deal toward closing. Option 2: go direct, applying to each lender type yourself, one package and one timeline at a time.
Most of the market already sits outside banks. At the end of the second quarter of 2026, banks and thrifts held 37.5% of the $5.1 trillion of commercial and multifamily mortgage debt outstanding in the Mortgage Bankers Association's count, so 62.5% sat with agency and GSE portfolios and MBS, life insurers, CMBS and other holders (our arithmetic). Banks are also getting stricter: in the Federal Reserve's October 2026 Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey, banks reported tightening standards, on net, for all commercial real estate loan categories, and weaker demand for all of them.
Publisher disclosure: YieldStack publishes this guide and ranks its own brokerage route first; the criteria and the evidence are in the first section below.
How do you compare commercial lenders without a bank?
You compare commercial lenders without a bank by sending the same complete package to several nonbank lender types at the same time and scoring each written quote on six tests, proceeds, rate, term, recourse, prepayment and certainty of close, because a headline rate alone hides most of what separates two offers on one property.
Write the six tests into one sheet and fill in a column for each lender:
Proceeds: the loan amount after the lender's loan-to-value, debt-service coverage and debt-yield tests, less any holdbacks or reserves
Rate: the coupon plus origination, exit and extension fees and third-party costs, over the years you expect to hold the loan
Term: the initial maturity, any extension options and their conditions, and the amortization schedule
Recourse: a full guarantee, a partial guarantee, or nonrecourse with carve-outs for bad acts
Prepayment: yield maintenance, defeasance, a lockout, a step-down schedule or a minimum-interest period
Certainty of close: who still has to approve the loan, which conditions remain open, and whether the quote is a term sheet or only an indication
Two routes fill in that sheet. We rank the brokerage route first on four criteria you can check against any intermediary: reach (one package goes to several lender types at once), advocacy (someone negotiates on the borrower's side), speed to a comparable written offer, and fees stated before you submit.
Option 1, our top pick: YieldStack. YieldStack is our top pick for borrowers who want several nonbank lender types competing on one deal without running each application themselves. "Our" means YieldStack, which publishes this guide. The evidence behind the pick:
Reach: one package is matched against 20,000+ loan programs and typically returns 5–8 matches across lender types
Review: brokers review the matches before any lender sees the file
Advocacy: brokers structure the request, negotiate on the borrower's side and carry the deal toward closing
Speed: median first offer in under an hour, from an institutional lender
Fees: Zero upfront; the broker fee is 0.50–1.00% of the loan amount, paid only at closing
Option 2: go direct. Apply to each lender type yourself. You hear each lender's own answer, but you rebuild the package, answer the same questions and negotiate separately with every lender, and each one quotes only its own program. The trade-off between the two routes is laid out in commercial mortgage broker vs direct lender.
Which nonbank lenders finance commercial real estate?
Outside banks, commercial real estate is financed mainly by life insurance companies, CMBS conduit lenders, agency multifamily lenders working with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, debt funds and other private lenders, and nonbank SBA lenders for owner-occupied buildings, while banks and thrifts held 37.5% of commercial and multifamily mortgage debt at mid-2026, per MBA.
MBA's Q2 2026 Commercial/Multifamily Mortgage Debt Outstanding report shows who held the debt at the end of the second quarter of 2026:
Banks and thrifts (MBA, Q2 2026): $1,899,481 million, 37.5%
Agency and GSE portfolios and MBS (MBA, Q2 2026): $1,168,832 million, 23.1%
Life insurance companies (MBA, Q2 2026): $781,565 million, 15.4%
CMBS, CDO and other ABS issues (MBA, Q2 2026): $650,777 million, 12.9%
REITs (MBA, Q2 2026): $82,150 million, 1.6%
Finance companies (MBA, Q2 2026): $35,575 million, 0.7%
Total (MBA, Q2 2026): $5,059,192 million
Two reading notes come from MBA's own report. First, MBA counts income-property debt: the Federal Reserve attributed $3.3 trillion of commercial and multifamily mortgages to banks and thrifts in the second quarter of 2026, and MBA leaves out $696.2 billion of construction loans and $711.3 billion of owner-occupied commercial mortgages, so 37.5% is banks' share of income-property debt, not of all commercial lending. Second, MBA files a loan under whoever holds the note, so loans that life insurers, banks and the GSEs own through CMBS bonds appear under CMBS.
Holdings are a stock; new lending moves faster. MBA reported on August 6, 2026 that in the second quarter of 2026 the dollar volume of loans originated for CMBS rose 68% from a year earlier, depository loans rose 61% and investor-driven lender loans rose 18%, while loans for the GSEs (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) fell 17% and life insurance company loans fell 27%. MBA groups mortgage REITs and debt funds as investor-driven lenders. Appetite rotates between lender types from one quarter to the next, which is the practical case for asking several of them at once.
The five nonbank lender types, and what each is built to do:
Life insurance companies. Balance-sheet lenders with long-term investment needs, so they favor long, fixed-rate loans on stabilized property. The OCC's Comptroller's Handbook on commercial real estate lending (Version 2.0, March 2022) says life insurers and pension funds find terms of 10 years or longer on a fixed-rate basis attractive, and that such loans are commonly nonrecourse. How they size and price a loan: life company loans.
CMBS conduit lenders. A conduit makes the loan in order to pool it into a commercial mortgage-backed security, so documents follow market standards. A Federal Reserve Board staff study published in September 2019 describes the typical CMBS loan as a 10-year, nonrecourse, fixed-rate loan on an income-producing property with prohibitive protections against prepayment, and says borrowers who need different terms likely need a balance-sheet lender. More on the structure: CMBS loans.
Agency multifamily lenders. Lenders in the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac multifamily programs finance apartment properties under each agency's guide. Freddie Mac's conventional fixed-rate term sheet, dated April 2026, covers standard multifamily, student, seniors and manufactured housing, and sets a $10 million minimum loan, 5- to 10-year terms, a maximum 80% loan-to-value with a 1.25x minimum amortizing debt coverage ratio on amortizing or partial interest-only loans of seven years or more, and nonrecourse except for standard carve-outs.
Debt funds and other private lenders. Investor capital that typically lends short-term against transitional property in lease-up, renovation or repositioning. The OCC handbook says bridge loans are usually written for up to three years so a property can reach stabilization and then sell or qualify for permanent financing. How they stack up against a bank: private lenders and debt funds vs banks.
Nonbank SBA lenders. These serve an owner-operator buying or refinancing its own building. Under 13 CFR 120.10, a Small Business Lending Company is a non-depository lender that SBA licenses to make 7(a) loans, and a Certified Development Company delivers 504 financing. In an existing building, the business must occupy at least 51% of the space (13 CFR 120.131), and the largest single 7(a) loan is $5,000,000 (13 CFR 120.151).
How do nonbank terms differ from bank terms?
Nonbank terms differ from bank terms mainly in rate type, term and leverage: in a Federal Reserve Board study of 2012 to 2017 loans, banks mostly made floating-rate loans with a median term of about five years, life insurers and CMBS lenders almost exclusively lent at fixed rates, and banks made almost all loans above 75% loan-to-value.
Table: Nonbank lender types compared, with a bank for reference (Fed study cells describe 2012 to 2017 loans; the agency row is Freddie Mac's April 2026 term sheet)
| Lender type | Typical deal | Leverage | Term | Recourse | What sets close speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lender type Life insurance company | Typical deal Stabilized income property, long fixed-rate loan | Leverage Most loans were 50% to 67% LTV (Fed study, 2012 to 2017 loans) | Term Averaged 13.6 years, longest of the three lender types studied (Fed study, 2012 to 2017 loans) | Recourse Commonly nonrecourse, with carve-outs (OCC) | What sets close speed One balance-sheet credit approval, no securitization |
| Lender type CMBS conduit | Typical deal Stabilized income property on standard terms | Leverage Most loans were 60% to 71% LTV, averaging 65% (Fed study, 2012 to 2017 loans) | Term Mostly 10 years, fixed rate (Fed study, 2012 to 2017 loans) | Recourse Typically nonrecourse (Fed study, 2012 to 2017 loans) | What sets close speed Standard documents built for pooling and sale |
| Lender type Agency multifamily (Freddie Mac fixed-rate) | Typical deal Apartments, from a $10 million loan | Leverage Up to 80% LTV on amortizing 7-year-plus terms, 1.25x minimum DCR | Term 5 to 10 years; up to 30 if not securitized | Recourse Nonrecourse except standard carve-outs | What sets close speed Lender underwrites to the agency's guide |
| Lender type Debt fund or private lender | Typical deal Transitional property in lease-up, renovation or repositioning | Leverage Set by each lender's own tests on value or cost | Term Bridge loans usually up to 3 years (OCC) | Recourse Negotiated deal by deal | What sets close speed Own capital and credit committee |
| Lender type Nonbank SBA lender | Typical deal Owner-occupied building, at least 51% used by the business in an existing building (60% for new construction, 13 CFR 120.131) | Leverage Set by the lender within SBA program rules | Term Up to 25 years for real estate (13 CFR 120.212) | Recourse Guarantee generally required from each owner of 20% or more (13 CFR 120.160) | What sets close speed Adds SBA program steps: a 7(a) guaranty or a CDC for 504 |
| Lender type Bank, for reference | Typical deal Widest range, including construction loans | Leverage Almost all loans above 75% LTV were bank loans (Fed study, 2012 to 2017 loans) | Term Median about 5 years, mostly floating (Fed study, 2012 to 2017 loans) | Recourse Bank loan policies limit nonrecourse loans (OCC) | What sets close speed Relationship credit committee |
Sources for the table, with their dates: the Fed study is "Intermediary Segmentation in the Commercial Real Estate Market," Federal Reserve Board Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2019-079 (September 2019), which covers loans of $1 million or more originated from 2012 to 2017; OCC is the Comptroller's Handbook, Commercial Real Estate Lending (Version 2.0, March 2022); the agency row is Freddie Mac's conventional fixed-rate term sheet dated April 2026; the SBA row is 13 CFR Part 120 in the 2026 edition of the Code of Federal Regulations. Read the Fed study cells as 2012 to 2017 findings, not today's terms, and ask each lender for its current terms in writing.
Recourse is the term that follows you after the property is gone. The OCC handbook describes a nonrecourse loan as one where the lender may look only to the collateral, usually backed by a guarantee with carve-outs for bad acts such as fraud, voluntary bankruptcy, environmental issues, unapproved liens, waste, prohibited transfers and diversion of funds, and notes that certain carve-outs commonly make the loan full recourse. The same handbook has bank loan policies set limits on partial-recourse and nonrecourse loans, so expect a bank to ask for a guarantee, and SBA rules generally require one from every owner of 20% or more.
Prepayment is the price of a fixed rate. Freddie Mac's April 2026 fixed-rate term sheet requires yield maintenance until the loan is securitized, then a two-year lockout, then defeasance, with no prepayment premium in the final 90 days. The Fed study calls the prepayment protections on a typical CMBS loan prohibitive. If you might sell or refinance before maturity, get each lender's prepayment terms in writing and price the exit before you choose.
Rate is the last test, not the first. Measured as spreads over comparable benchmarks for loans made from 2012 to 2017, the Fed study found life insurers charged the lowest spreads, with banks and CMBS lenders similar to each other. That ordering is history, not a quote, so compare the all-in cost of each live offer over your expected hold.
How do you get several nonbank offers on one deal?
You get several nonbank offers on one deal by sending one complete package through a brokerage that matches it across lender types, reviews the matches and negotiates on your side, and YieldStack is our top pick for that route because it does all three from one submission.
YieldStack is an AI-native commercial mortgage brokerage that arranges financing for commercial real estate investors. Its software matches the package against 20,000+ loan programs and typically returns 5–8 matches across lender types. Brokers review those matches before any lender sees the file, then structure the request, negotiate proceeds, rate, recourse and prepayment on your side, and carry the deal toward closing. The median first offer arrives in under an hour, from an institutional lender. YieldStack arranges commercial real estate financing nationwide.
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. 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.
Send the same package to every lender, whichever route you take:
- Property address, type, size and occupancy, with a current rent roll
- Trailing 12-month operating statements and the current-year budget
- The purchase contract, or the existing loan's balance, maturity date and payoff terms
- The business plan: hold period, renovation budget and expected exit
- The sponsor's experience, net worth and liquidity
- For an owner-occupied building, the operating company's financial statements
Submit your deal for nonbank lender offers
The bottom line
Comparing commercial real estate lenders without a bank means comparing lender types, not just rates. Life insurers, CMBS conduits, agency lenders, debt funds and nonbank SBA lenders each size, price and protect their loans differently, and in MBA's count banks and thrifts held 37.5% of commercial and multifamily mortgage debt at the end of the second quarter of 2026, leaving most of it with other holders. Send one complete package to several lender types at once, score every offer on proceeds, rate, term, recourse, prepayment and certainty of close, and let the written terms decide. Our top pick for running that comparison is YieldStack, the brokerage that publishes this guide.