Construction loans at US banks continued their multiyear growth in the second quarter, and total delinquencies rose for the third straight quarter.

Nonresidential construction loans increased 3.2% sequentially in the quarter to $386.07 billion, while residential construction loans fell 2.8% to $102.47 billion, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.

Total construction loans rose to 3.97% of gross loans and leases in the quarter from 3.93% in the first quarter.

Delinquency trends diverge

While overall construction loan delinquencies rose 4.4% sequentially in the second quarter to $3.67 billion, delinquency trends diverged depending on the type of loan. For nonresidential construction loans, delinquencies rose 8% from the first quarter to $3.01 billion, while residential construction loan delinquencies fell about 9.5% to $666.9 million.

Delinquent loans made up 0.65% of total residential construction loans in the second quarter, down from 0.70% in the first quarter. Delinquencies were 0.78% of total nonresidential construction loans, up from 0.74% in the first quarter.

– Access an industry document detailing construction loan holdings. – Download a template to compare a bank's financials to industry totals.  – View US industry data for commercial banks, savings banks and savings and loan associations.

Wells Fargo holds most construction loans

Wells Fargo & Co. had the largest dollar amount of construction loans on its books as of the second quarter, at $23.27 billion.

JPMorgan Chase & Co., which assumed substantially all of the deposits and purchased essentially all of the assets of First Republic Bank in May, had the second-most construction loans at $13.86 billion. A 228.5% jump in residential construction loans and a 21.9% increase in nonresidential construction loans pushed the company two spots up the list from a quarter earlier. Bank of America Corp. had the third-most construction loans at $11.82 billion.

Bank OZK had the largest proportion of construction loan values relative to its gross loans and leases, at 40%, followed by Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc. with 12.5%. The industry aggregate was 4%.

Other than JPMorgan Chase, RBC US Group Holdings LLC had the largest quarter-over-quarter increase in residential construction loans with a 22.6% pickup, followed by Fifth Third Bancorp with 14.6% quarter-over-quarter growth.

Bank of America had the largest quarter-over-quarter growth in nonresidential construction loans besides JPMorgan Chase, at 16%.

Santander Holdings USA Inc. had a 36.3% quarterly drop in residential construction loans, the largest among top-tier US banks.