Irons, Meet Fire: Lenders and Brokers Rolled Out Multiple Offerings This Past Year

While alternative lenders have been happily absorbing much of the lending business that banks have been watching from the sidelines lately, this year’s Power Finance honorees show how all types of institutions have made a broader variety of offerings the go-to strategy for lending in 2025.

En route to a year that saw them burrow deeper into the real estate lending ecosystem, KKR added to its $6.5 billion in loan originations — up from $4.4 billion in 2023 — by investing in the junior tranches of commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) across both conduit B-pieces and single-asset,
single-borrower (SASB) loans, plus $4.6 billion in investments in real estate securities.

Blackstone, meanwhile, saw $9.7 billion in global originations for the Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies fund and $11.6 billion in securities volume. The company also acquired a $1 billion loan portfolio from Germany’s PBB, and Blackstone Mortgage Trust launched a multifamily lending partnership with M&T Realty Capital.

Barclays played across the spectrum of offerings as well, compiling an $11.5 billion year from bits and pieces (relatively speaking) of SASB, conduit CMBS, balance sheet loans, and warehouse financing. At UBS, its $3.55 billion in originations included an almost even divide between CMBS loans, warehouse financing, and bespoke loans and credit facilities originated to be held to maturity on its balance sheet.

InterVest touted construction and value-add whole loan solutions and mezzanine positions en route to its $2.5 billion year of originations, while Cushman & Wakefield executed 237 loans for $12.8 billion by playing broadly across the capital stack, originating senior loans and mezzanine debt while also offering specialized financing solutions such as bridge loans and SASB executions.

BMO Capital Markets split its $4.5 billion in originations between conduit and SASB CMBS deals, and has a dedicated subordinate debt professional devoted solely to mezzanine, preferred equity and B-note opportunities for both large and small transactions. Walker & Dunlop jumped from $4.4 billion in originations in 2023 to $11 billion in 2024 thanks to offering construction and bridge financing, permanent financing, JV equity and loan workouts.  

Dwight Capital’s $3 billion year included providing U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-backed loans, and offering construction and bridge debt through Dwight Mortgage Trust, the company’s private real estate investment trust. Dwight also recently introduced Dwight Green Finance, which originates Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) loans, and Dwight Healthcare Funding, which the company says has facilitated $100 million in revolving credit commitments for borrowers that own health care facilities.

Merchants Capital played in the debt and equity markets to finance affordable housing projects nationwide, including one East New York, Brooklyn,  project for which it provided construction, permanent and equity financing. The company is also a top-ranked agency lender with Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, HUD and the Federal Housing Administration that offers balance sheet lending, and facilitated $1.5 billion in securitizations.