The Banks Quietly Funding Private Credit's Commercial Property Lending Boom
Bisnow · 14 July 2026
TL;DR
A new dataset from credit intelligence platform Atrium Data has mapped the largely invisible network of US banks providing back-leverage to private credit firms active in commercial real estate lending. Using Uniform Commercial Code filings in Delaware, Atrium traced how major institutions — Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citibank, and regional players like Axos Financial and Western Alliance — are financing private lenders rather than originating property loans directly. In the second half of 2025, private credit loans accounted for roughly $1.4 trillion, or 10%, of total US non-financial corporate debt. Bank credit commitments to other financial entities reached $2.6 trillion by end-2025, up from $1.2 trillion in 2018. The shift is partly driven by Basel III capital rules, which classify loans to companies as less risky than direct real estate exposure, giving banks a regulatory incentive to lend through intermediaries rather than directly to property owners.
Our take
While this story focuses on the US market, the structural shift it describes carries real implications for South African commercial property finance professionals, institutional investors, and developers watching global capital flows. The core dynamic — banks retreating from direct commercial real estate lending and instead providing leverage to private credit intermediaries — mirrors pressures already visible locally. South African banks face their own capital adequacy requirements under Basel III, and the growth of non-bank lenders in the SA property finance space (think debt funds and alternative credit providers) follows a similar logic: banks want the yield without the balance sheet weight. For SA-based developers and commercial landlords seeking offshore capital or partnering with international funds, understanding this layered structure matters. The institution ultimately funding a deal may be invisible in loan documents, making due diligence and counterparty risk assessment more complex. For local asset managers and debt fund operators, this data signals that back-leverage facilities from banks are becoming more competitive globally — borrowing costs are falling as banks actively seek to expand these books. SA fund managers with offshore ambitions should be aware that this window of competitive pricing exists, but so does the opacity risk that regulators worldwide are beginning to scrutinise.