David Nass

UBS is a firm believer in the old adage about not putting all of your eggs in one basket.

The firm’s originations totaled $3.55 billion in 2024, including roughly $1.5 billion of loans originated for securitization, $1 billion in warehouse financing, and $1.05 billion of bespoke loans and credit facilities originated to be held to maturity on its balance sheet.

The $1.05 billion balance sheet portfolio is divided almost equally into office, retail and industrial, with each occupying just over 30 percent of the total.

UBS’s platform offerings are equally varied.

“Ours is a very diverse platform,” said David Nass. “It consists of CRE warehouse facilities, CMBS strategies, balance sheet lending — all of those things. We’ve really benefited from having such a diverse revenue stream throughout 2024.”

Nass believes this diversity makes UBS stand out amid the real estate finance community.

“It’s a unique platform in that oftentimes when clients talk to banks, they’re talking to various groups within that bank for the various solutions that we have under one umbrella here within real estate finance,” said Nass.

Some of the significant deals UBS executed in 2025 included providing a $169 million bridge loan extension on a leasehold portfolio across the U.S., and co-originating and securitizing a $457 million industrial single-asset, single-borrower transaction with Starwood as the sponsor.

Looking deeper into 2025, Nass sees significant avenues for continued prosperity despite potential economic uncertainties.

“We think there’s an incredible opportunity for CMBS to fill some of the void associated with lack of liquidity for certain asset classes,” said Nass. “We are bullish on the market. We saw the industry go from $40 billion in 2023 for CMBS to $105 billion-plus in 2024. That’s a 160 percent increase. Expectations are that CMBS will be strong in 2025, and certainly the first quarter has proved that to be true.”