OREANDA-NEWS. Lower new defaults and strong new issuance levels helped bring U.S. CMBS loan defaults down slightly to 13.2% as of third-quarter 2015 (3Q'15) from 13.3% at the end of 2Q'15, according to Fitch Ratings in its latest U.S. CMBS weekly newsletter.

In 3Q'15, 38 loans, totaling $779.1 million newly defaulted during their term. This represents a decrease from 3Q'14 when 77 loans totaling $1.11 billion defaulted. This also represents a slight decrease from 2Q'15 when 70 loans totaling $797.4 million defaulted. The average size of the newly defaulted loans was $20.5 million. Nine loans had an original balance over $20 million, which made up approximately 73% of the total newly defaulted loans by balance.

Office properties were the largest contributor to new 3Q '15 defaults by loan balance, with 15 loans comprising 55.7% of 3Q defaults, five of them over $20 million. Retail properties were the second largest contributor with 12 loans at 31.8%, two of them over $20 million. Office and retail defaults were generally due to struggling occupancy levels and declining rents. Three industrial, three hotel and four multifamily loans defaulted in 3Q'15 representing 7.8%, 4.3% and 3% of total defaults respectively. The five largest defaults in 3Q'15 were:

--$163.8 million One and Two Jericho Plaza, Jericho, NY;
--$108.5 million The Mall at Stonecrest, Lithonia, GA;
--$89.8 million Vista Ridge Mall, Lewisville, TX;
--$52.5 million Fifth Third Center, Columbus, OH;
--$48.8 million Maxtor Campus, Longmont, CO.