KBRA Upgrades Seven Ratings and Affirms all Other Outstanding Ratings for ESA 2021-ESH

KBRA upgrades the ratings of seven classes of certificates and affirms all other outstanding ratings of ESA 2021-ESH, a CMBS single-borrower transaction. The rating actions follow a surveillance review of the transaction, which has experienced meaningful deleveraging from principal paydown following property releases since issuance.

At securitization, the transaction was secured by a $4.65 billion first-lien whole mortgage loan backed by a portfolio of 560 extended-stay hotels. Since closing, the borrower has released 104 properties—33 since last review—reducing the portfolio to 456 hotels and the outstanding loan balance to $3.99 billion as of June 2025. The floating-rate, interest-only loan had an initial term of two years plus three one-year extension options. The borrower used its first option and extended the maturity to July 2024 and subsequently exercised its second option pushing the maturity date to July 2025. The borrower intends to exercise its third and final maturity extension option and extend maturity to July 2026, according to the servicer.

KBRA analyzed the cash flow for the properties utilizing information from the trustee and servicer to determine KNCF. The analysis produced a KNCF of $479.2 million and a KBRA value of $4.06 billion ($79,487 per key). The resulting in-trust KLTV is 98.2%, in line with 99.5% at last review but down from 112.4% at securitization. KBRA maintains a KPO of Perform on the loan.

Details concerning the classes with rating changes are as follows:

To access ratings and relevant documents, click here.

Click here to view the report.

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