CMBS conduit loan sizer
How big a conduit loan will your property carry?
A conduit lender sizes your loan three ways and lends the smallest answer. Enter the property's income and value to see all three, which one binds, and how your numbers sit against the loans that closed in the last year.
How a conduit lender sizes the loan
The lender runs three tests and lends the smallest result. With income NOI, value V and annual debt service per dollar of loan k:
| Test | Largest loan | Last year's loans (10th / median / 90th percentile) |
|---|---|---|
| Debt service coverage (DSCR) | NOI ÷ (minimum DSCR × k) | 1.28x / 1.52x / 2.30x |
| Loan-to-value (LTV) | V × maximum LTV | 50.4% / 63.8% / 71.0% |
| Debt yield | NOI ÷ minimum debt yield | 8.1% / 10.1% / 15.1% |
Worked example, the numbers the sizer opens with: $2.00M of NOI, a $31.00M value, a ten-year interest-only loan at 6.33%. Interest-only debt service is 6.33% × 365/360 = 6.418% of the loan each year. The coverage test allows $2.00M ÷ (1.28 × 6.418%) = $24.35M. The value test allows $31.00M × 71.0% = $22.00M. The debt yield test allows $2.00M ÷ 8.1% = $24.72M. The lender offers the smallest: $22.00M.
Which test binds comes down to the cap rate, NOI divided by value. In the example it is 6.45%. The value test starts to bind once the cap rate is above roughly maximum LTV × minimum DSCR × k, here 5.83%. Below that, coverage or debt yield holds the loan down, and a higher appraisal will not get you more money.
The percentiles come from 1,045 loans originated from October 2025 through October 2026 and reported by 40 public CMBS trusts in their SEC ABS-EE filings. See them by property type and term.
Questions people ask
What is a conduit loan?
A fixed-rate commercial mortgage made to be pooled with dozens of others into a CMBS trust and sold to bond investors. Terms are usually five or ten years, interest only, non-recourse except for bad-act carve-outs, with a balloon at maturity and a prepayment premium or defeasance until the last few months.
Where do the default ratios come from?
From the SEC filings of the CMBS trusts themselves. Every public trust reports each loan's debt service coverage, appraised value and net operating income at securitization. We take every loan originated in the 12 months before the latest report, drop co-op loans, and show the spread by property type and term.
Why is the loan smaller than my LTV suggests?
Because the lender takes the lowest of three answers. Which test binds depends on your cap rate: on a property valued at a low cap rate, coverage and debt yield cap the loan; at a high cap rate, loan-to-value does. The sizer shows each test so you can see which one is holding the loan down.
Is this a quote?
No. It is the arithmetic a lender's first screen runs. A real quote depends on the lender's view of the income, the market and the sponsor. The Janover Capital desk can get you real conduit quotes.
Want real conduit quotes?
Send the property to the Janover Capital desk. We take it to conduit lenders and show you the terms side by side.