Capital One sells $334M-plus NYC multifamily loan portfolio to PIMCO

By Adam Pincus

Capital One, one of the most active multifamily and commercial lenders in New York City, sold a portfolio of at least 65 multifamily loans valued at more than $334 million to PIMCO, according to a PincusCo Media analysis of city records.

The note sales all occurred on September 28, 2021, near the end of the third quarter. Each sale to PIMCO, or the Pacific Investment Management Company, included a loan from Capital One to PIMCO of an unspecified amount given. Each of those loans was memorialized through a collateral assignment of the loan back to Capital One.

This loan sale is a significant portion of Capital One’s portfolio in New York, although PincusCo cannot determine exactly. PincusCo data show that Capital One lent $540 million in 32 loan so far this year, but that only accounts for loans of $5 million and up. The bank is the 32nd most active commercial lender in the city so far this year by dollar volume, out of hundreds of lenders.

The note sales were all on multifamily properties, and included one $28 million loan given to United American Land, six loans totaling $37.5 million given to Croman Real Estate, and two loans totaling $22.2 million given to Kahen Properties. There did not seem to be any general indication of distress on this loan portfolio. Several of the loans were secured by cooperative apartment buildings.

While a Capital One spokesperson did comment on the note sales generally, the statement did not provide a top line figure for the note sales, either in New York City or nationally. The statement did not comment on the collateral loan assignment at all.

Capital One has not exited the New York City market either, the firm said. Sources confirmed that the bank was still active, and as an example it recorded last month an $8.3 million loan given to a Lower Manhattan cooperative building, that was issued on October 1.

The loan portfolio sale is unusual in its scope in the New York City market. PincusCo has not seen any bulk sale of commercial loans at this scale.

Capital One announced in 2018 that it was exiting the single-family lending market, and sold $17 billion worth of mortgages to Credit Suisse, the Wall Street Journal reported at the time.

The Capital One spokesperson said in the statement that, “We continuously assess our portfolio strategy and the ways in which we can best serve our clients. After careful consideration, in early Q3 we reached an agreement to sell a portion of our Commercial Real Estate lending portfolio to a third party. This decision positions us for growth, while allowing us to refocus our resources on delivering the highest level of service to our clients. The sale includes a portion of our Multifamily portfolio. Capital One remains committed to Multifamily lending, including in the New York metro area.”

The loans sold were concentrated below $5 million, with the average loan size of $5.1 million. Of the 65 loans, 36 were in Manhattan, 14 in Brooklyn, 12 in the Bronx and three in Queens.