KBRA Assigns Preliminary Ratings to Benchmark 2026-B44

KBRA is pleased to announce the assignment of preliminary ratings to 18 classes of Benchmark 2026-B44, an $805.1 million CMBS conduit transaction collateralized by 63 commercial mortgage loans secured by 79 properties. The collateral properties are located throughout 20 MSAs, of which the three largest are New York (32.9% of pool balance), Denver (9.9%), and Las Vegas (8.0%). The pool’s three largest property type exposures are retail (38.9%), multifamily (26.3%), and office (15.2%). The largest loan in the pool, Colorado Mills (9.9%), is a 911,906 sf collateral portion of a 1.1 million sf outlet center located in Lakewood, Colorado, approximately seven miles west of the Denver CBD. The five largest loans, which also include Phoenix Industrial Portfolio XVI (8.1%), 700 6th Street (6.7%), OKC Outlets (6.5%), and The Falls (6.2%), represent 37.4% of the initial pool balance, while the top 10 loans represent 56.7%.

KBRA’s analysis of the transaction incorporated our multi-borrower rating process that begins with our analysts’ evaluation of the underlying collateral properties’ financial and operating performance, which determines KBRA’s estimate of sustainable net cash flow (KNCF) and KBRA value using our North American CMBS Property Evaluation Methodology. On a weighted average basis, the pool’s KNCF was 13.9% less than the issuer's cash flow. KBRA capitalization rates were applied to each asset’s KNCF to derive values that were 37.2% less than third party appraisal values. The pool has an in-trust KLTV of 76.8% and an all-in KLTV of 78.4%. The process also deploys rent and occupancy stresses, probability of default regressions, and loss given default calculations to determine losses for each loan which, in conjunction with pool concentration and other relevant factors, are used to assign our credit ratings.

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Methodologies