Eight percent or $119.5 billion of the outstanding balance ofcommercial and multi-family mortgages held by nonbank lenders andinvestors will mature this year.

That amount is down by 21% compared to the $150.6 billion thatmatured in 2012, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's2012 Commercial Real Estate/Multifamily Survey of Loan MaturityVolumes.

The loan maturities vary significantly by investor group, theMBA said.

Five percent or $16 billion of the outstanding balance ofmultifamily and health care mortgages held or guaranteed by FannieMae, Freddie Mac, FHA and Ginnie Mae will mature in 2013.

Life insurance companies will see 7% or $21.9 billion of theiroutstanding mortgage balances mature in 2013, the MBA said.

Twenty-one percent or $38.1 billion of commercial mortgages heldby credit companies and other investors will mature in 2013.

Commercial and multifamily mortgages are generally long-termloans that span seven years, 10 years or longer, and each yearsince 2010, the volume of commercial and multifamily mortgagesmaturing in that year has declined, according to Jamie Woodwell,MBA's vice president of commercial real estate research.

The volume of loans maturing in 2013 and 2014 will mark cyclelows for loan maturities, each representing less than 8% of theoutstanding balance of loans, Woodwell said, adding the relativelylong-term nature of commercial and multifamily mortgage debt helpedthe market weather the recession and its slow recovery.

“During the recession, and even in more recent years,approaching commercial and multifamily mortgage maturity volumeswere referred to as akin to a 'ticking time-bomb' that wouldoverwhelm the real estate finance markets,” Woodwell said.

The MBA's 2012 survey collected information directly fromservicers on the years of maturity of $1.51 trillion in outstandingnonbank-held commercial and multifamily mortgages. The dollarfigures reported are the unpaid principal balances as of Dec. 31,2012, according to the association.

The MBA said because most loans pay down principal, the balancesat the time of maturity will generally be lower than those reportedhere.