Delinquency among commercial and multifamily mortgages continued to rise in Q4 of 2009 amid the “economic fallout” affecting the broader mortgage market, according to the latest quarterly report (download here) from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). “The ongoing impact of the economic fallout on commercial real estate markets continued to drive up commercial and multifamily mortgage delinquencies for most investor groups in the fourth quarter,” said MBA vice president of commercial real estate research Jamie Woodwell. “Continued job losses, consumer restraint and a lack of household growth all sustained the pressure on commercial real estate operations and mortgages during the fourth quarter.” As HousingWire previously reported, despite an on-going trend of growing delinquencies in commercial real estate markets where the mortgages are “wrapped” into commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS), commercial and multifamily mortgages bear the lowest charge-off rates of all loans held by banks and thrifts. Most commercial/multifamily investor groups felt the pain of economic fallout in Q409 as delinquencies rose: The 30+ day delinquency rate among loans held in CMBS growing 1.63 percentage points to 5.69%. The 90+ day delinquency rate of loans held by Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC)-insured banks and thrifts rose 49 bps to 3.92%. Multifamily loans held or insured by government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) Fannie Mae (FNM) rose a single basis point (bp) to 0.63% delinquent by 60+ days, MBA said. At competing GSE Freddie Mac (FRE), multifamily loans grew 4 bps to 0.15% delinquent by 90+ days. MBA found that loans held in life company portfolios slipped 4 bps to 0.19% delinquent by 60+ days. Write to Diana Golobay. Disclosure: The author holds no relevant investment positions.