U.S. structured finance new issuance totaled $91 billion in October 2021 across the industry's four major sectors: asset-backed securities (ABS), commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS), collateralized loan obligation (CLO), and residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS). This marks the most active monthly period year to date (YTD). October's issuance brought these four sectors' 2021 total to $640 billion--a 59% increase from $402 billion a year earlier. Structured finance issuance through October 2021 has exceeded all annual volumes since the Great Recession. Further, two of the four major sectors (CLO and CMBS) have eclipsed our full-year forecasts, while the other two (ABS and RMBS) are likely to surpass their respective forecasts next month. All four sectors continue to build on their pace above last year's issuance, with CLOs continuing to lead the way with a 101% year-over-year increase.
CLO refinancings (refis) and resets, which we do not count in the new issue total, reached approximately $218 billion in October. This brings the combined CLO issuance total to $368 billion--more than $80 billion higher than the $285 billion full-year record set in 2017. Meanwhile, after trailing last year's tally through the first quarter, CMBS issuance is now up 93% year over year, while ABS and RMBS issuances increased 43% and 42%, respectively.
Sector Breakdown
ABS
ABS issuance totaled over $30 billion in October. Of this amount, esoteric/nontraditional was $10 billion, auto loan and lease ABS were over $9 billion combined, student loan was $4 billion, commercial loan was over $3 billion, and credit card and personal loan ABS were approximately $5 billion combined (slight differences in totals may exist due to rounding).
CLO
CLO new issuance reached a new monthly record with over $19 billion in October, while refis and resets totaled $24 billion. The combined $43 billion monthly issuance total ranks among the highest on record. The YTD refi and reset issuance volume of $218 billion through October continued to build over the annual record of $167 billion set in 2017, while the new issuance volume of $150 billon exceeded the previous $129 billion high set in 2018.
CMBS
Private-label CMBS issuance, excluding commercial real estate (CRE) CLOs, totaled roughly $18 billion in October, bringing the YTD total to $87 billion. These issuances included one conduit transaction totaling $950 million and 17 single-borrower transactions totaling over $17 billion. The single-borrower sector has been extremely active this year, accounting for 73% ($64 billion) of all private-label CMBS (excluding CRE CLOs) issued. Conduits' YTD issuance totaled more than $23 billion, including the approximately $1 billion issued in October. CRE CLOs' YTD issuance totaled $37 billion, including five transactions totaling $4 billion priced in October.
RMBS
RMBS issuance totaled $23 billion in October. This included approximately $6 billion in prime (including prime jumbo) offerings, over $3 billion each in credit risk transfers and single-family rental, $2 billion in agency-eligible loans, and $1 billion each in mortgage servicing and nonqualified mortgage. The remainder comprised modest offerings from other types of collateral, including reverse mortgage, residential transition loans, and reperforming/nonperforming loans.
Annual Breakdown
The table below shows a breakdown of U.S. structured finance issuance through Oct. 31, 2021.
| U.S. Structured Finance Issuance YTD | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (Bil. $) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2020 YTD | 2021 YTD | 2021F | ||||||||||||
| ABS | 183 | 191 | 229 | 239 | 244 | 193 | 180 | 256 | 260 | |||||||||||
| CMBS | 95 | 69 | 88 | 77 | 96 | 53 | 45 | 87 | 80 | |||||||||||
| CLO | 98 | 72 | 118 | 129 | 118 | 93 | 74 | 150 | 140 | |||||||||||
| RMBS | 54 | 34 | 70 | 95 | 124 | 114 | 103 | 147 | 150 | |||||||||||
| Total U.S. new issue | 430 | 366 | 505 | 540 | 582 | 453 | 402 | 640 | 630 | |||||||||||
| CLO reset/refi(i) | 10 | 39 | 167 | 156 | 43 | 33 | 28 | 218 | NA | |||||||||||
| CRE CLOs(i) | 5 | 3 | 8 | 14 | 18 | 8 | 8 | 37 | NA | |||||||||||
| Note: Figures were rounded after calculations, and may be revised from time to time based on new information. (i)Not included in new issue total. YTD--Year to date. F--Forcecast. ABS--Asset-backed securities. CMBS--Commercial mortgage-backed securities. CRE--Commercial real estate. CLO--Collateralized loan obligation. RMBS--Residential mortgage-backed securities. NA--Not available. Source: S&P Global Ratings, LCD/S&P Global Market Intelligence, Bloomberg, Intex, Asset-Backed Alert, and Commercial Mortgage Alert. | ||||||||||||||||||||
This report does not constitute a rating action.
| Primary Contact: | Brenden J Kugle, Centennial + 1 (303) 721 4619; brenden.kugle@spglobal.com |
| Secondary Contact: | James M Manzi, CFA, Washington D.C. + 1 (202) 383 2028; james.manzi@spglobal.com |
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