Commercial Real Estate Portfolios Gain 10 Percent

Bentonville-based Arvest Bank Group Inc. had almost $1.4 billion in commercial real estate loans during 2005, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

That number, which includes out-of-area lending activity, eclipsed all other bank lenders with operations in Benton and Washington counties by almost four times its nearest competitor — Little Rock-based Bank of the Ozarks.

The data collected in the chart “Commercial Counts” include the top 10 public and private Arkansas-chartered banks by assets that had operations in the two counties as of Dec. 31.

Three of the top five banks — Bank of the Ozarks, Liberty Bank of Arkansas and Metropolitan National Bank — did not have operations in the two county area until late 2004 or after, so much of those institutions’ lending activity was outside the area.

Total commercial real estate loans for those 10 banks were up 10.4 percent to $3.2 billion for the year. Combined, the banks’ real estate portfolios were made up of about one-third of commercial projects.

Payne Brewer, executive vice president and loan manager at Arvest Bank-Fayetteville, said about two-thirds of that bank’s real estate portfolio is commercial.

The overall bank — which includes autonomous operations in 15 different markets, including Little Rock, Tulsa and Oklahoma City — saw a 7.6 percent increase in its commercial real estate loans over 2004. Brewer said the Fayetteville market is on track to do that well or maybe a little better in 2006.

Most of the bank’s Fayetteville commercial mortgages are owner-occupied, Brewer said, but he’s seeing more speculative commercial loans that are good investments for the bank.

Kent Williamson, executive vice president and loan manager at Arvest Bank-Springdale, said about 75 percent of Springdale’s real estate portfolio is commercial, but that number is skewed because Arvest sells most of its residential loans into the secondary market.

Click here for a look at the commercial counts for banks in the state.