Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk.
Credit Risk
Our investments are subject to a high degree of credit risk. Credit risk is the exposure to loss from loan defaults. Default rates are subject to a wide variety of factors, including, but not limited to, borrower financial condition, property performance, property management, supply/demand factors, construction trends, consumer behavior, regional economics, interest rates, the strength of the U.S. economy, and other factors beyond our control. All loans are subject to a certain probability of default. We manage credit risk through the underwriting process, acquiring our investments at the appropriate discount to face value, if any, and establishing loss assumptions. We also carefully monitor the performance of the loans, as well as external factors that may affect their value.
As a result of the NewPoint acquisition on July 1, 2025, and the operation of our agency business, we will be subject to additional credit risk as a result of our obligations under the risk sharing requirements applicable to some agency mortgage loans.
Capital Market Risk
We are exposed to risks related to the debt capital markets, and our related ability to finance our business through borrowings under repurchase obligations or other debt instruments. As a REIT, we are required to distribute a significant portion of our taxable income annually, which constrains our ability to accumulate operating cash flow and therefore requires us to utilize debt or equity capital to finance our business. We seek to mitigate these risks by monitoring the debt capital markets to inform our decisions on the amount, timing and terms of capital we raise.
Market uncertainty and volatility may cause fluctuation in market value of certain asset classes within our portfolio. We have and may continue to receive margin calls from our lenders as a result of the decline in the market value of the assets pledged by us to our lenders under our repurchase agreements and warehouse credit facilities, and if we fail to resolve such margin calls when due by payment of cash or delivery of additional collateral, the lenders may exercise remedies including demanding payment by us of our aggregate outstanding financing obligations and/or taking ownership of the loans or other assets securing the applicable obligations and liquidating them at inopportune prices.
61
Table of Contents
Interest Rate Risk
Our market risk arises primarily from interest rate risk relating to interest rate fluctuations. Many factors including governmental monetary and tax policies, domestic and international economic and political considerations and other factors that are beyond our control contribute to interest rate risk. To meet our short and long-term liquidity requirements, we may borrow funds at fixed and variable rates. Our interest rate risk management objectives are to limit the impact of interest rate changes in earnings and cash flows and to lower our overall borrowing costs. To achieve these objectives, from time to time, we may enter into interest rate hedge contracts such as swaps, collars and treasury lock agreements in order to mitigate our interest rate risk with respect to various debt instruments. While hedging activities may insulate us against adverse changes in interest rates, they may also limit our ability to participate in benefits of lower interest rates with respect to our portfolio of investments with fixed interest rates. We do not have any foreign denominated investments, and thus, we are not exposed to foreign currency fluctuations.
As of December 31, 2025 and 2024, our portfolio included 162 and 149 variable rate investments, respectively, based on LIBOR and SOFR (or “indexing rates”) for various terms. As of June 2023, the Company fully transitioned all loans formerly on LIBOR indexing rates to SOFR indexing rates. The following table quantifies the potential changes in interest income net of interest expense should interest rates increase by 50 basis points or decrease by 50 or 100 basis points, assuming that our current balance sheet was to remain constant and no actions were taken to alter our existing interest rate sensitivity. The changes in the portfolio for each basis points increase/decrease is a change from the base scenario.
Estimated Percentage Change in Interest Income Net of Interest Expense
Change in Indexing Rates December 31, 2025 December 31, 2024
(-) 100 Basis Points 8.51 % (1.09) %
(-) 50 Basis Points 2.26 % (1.47) %
Base Interest Rate — % — %
(+) 50 Basis Points 0.24 % 2.38 %
Our Agency Business originates, sells and services a range of multifamily finance products with Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and HUD. Our loans held-for-sale to these agencies are not currently exposed to interest rate risk during the loan commitment, closing and delivery process. The sale or placement of each loan to an investor is negotiated prior to closing on the loan with the borrower, and the sale or placement is generally effectuated within 60 days of closing. The coupon rate for the loan is set after we establish the interest rate with the investor.
The fair value of our MSRs is subject to market risk since a significant driver of the fair value of these assets will be the discount rates which are influenced by interest rates and conditional prepayment rates ("CPR"). A 100 basis point increase in the weighted average discount rate would decrease the fair value of our MSRs by $7.4 million at December 31, 2025, while a 100 basis point decrease would increase the fair value by $7.9 million.
Real Estate Risk
The market values of commercial mortgage assets are subject to volatility and may be affected adversely by a number of factors, including, but not limited to, national, regional and local economic conditions (which may be adversely affected by industry slowdowns and other factors); local real estate conditions; changes or continued weakness in specific industry segments; and demographic factors. In addition, decreases in property values reduce the value of the collateral and the potential proceeds available to a borrower to repay the underlying loans, which could also cause us to suffer losses.
Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.
The information required by this Item 8 is hereby incorporated by reference to our Consolidated Financial Statements beginning on page F-1 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements With Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure.
None.
62
Table of Contents