What sponsors should know about Texas.
Texas runs the largest commercial real estate market in the United States by transaction volume. Demand is anchored by the four metros of the Texas Triangle. Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin, and San Antonio, supported by sustained corporate relocations, a roughly 470,000-person net population gain in the last 12 months, and one of the few state economies large enough to be considered a stand-alone country in GDP terms.
Each metro has a different lender story. Houston is a deep multifamily and industrial market, with energy-corridor office a separate underwriting conversation entirely. DFW is the country's largest industrial market by inventory and one of its largest multifamily pipelines, with active national bank and life-company competition. Austin is a multifamily and Class A office story tied to tech relocations and the campus-driven submarkets along the MoPac corridor. San Antonio is the steadier market, workforce multifamily and grocery-anchored retail clear cleanest there.
Two underwriting items move every Texas deal. First, property insurance, which has hardened sharply along the Gulf Coast and re-priced statewide after the 2021 freeze and recurring hail seasons. Lenders now model insurance as a discrete line item and frequently require detailed loss-history packages on multifamily and industrial deals over $20M. Second, property tax burden, DFW and Harris counties commonly combine to 2.4% to 3.0% of assessed value once school district, county, and MUD levies are stacked. Both items can move sized proceeds by 5 to 10% if missed in early underwriting.
How each property type prices in Texas.
Multifamily Financing in Texas
Capital markets advisory for Texas multifamily properties. Bridge, agency, and permanent financing in Austin, Dallas, and Houston.
Office Property Financing in Texas
Secure financing for Texas office properties. Specialized advisory for Class A and medical office assets in major Texas markets.
Industrial Warehouse Financing in Texas
Finance industrial and warehouse assets in Texas. Acquisition and permanent debt for logistics and distribution centers.
Retail Shopping Center Financing in Texas
Finance retail assets in Texas. Debt advisory for grocery-anchored and power centers in major Texas markets.
Hospitality & Hotel Financing in Texas
Capital markets advisory for Texas hospitality. Credit-flagged, independent, PIP-renovation, and trophy-resort hotel financing across Dallas-Fort Worth.
Bridge debt by Texas city.
Each city page covers the working LTC band, spread to Term SOFR, term and basis ranges, the active local-and-regional lender options, common takeout paths, and the specific underwriting items lenders price as discrete line items.
Primary Texas cities
Secondary Texas cities
El Paso bridge loans.
McAllen / Rio Grande Valley bridge loans.
Lubbock bridge loans.
Amarillo bridge loans.
Midland-Odessa bridge loans.
Active lender options, takeout paths.
Waco bridge loans.
Killeen-Temple bridge loans.
Active lender options, takeout paths.
Corpus Christi bridge loans.
Active lender options, takeout paths.
College Station-Bryan bridge loans.
Active lender options, takeout.
How property insurance gates Texas CRE financing.
Primary perils: Named storm · Flood · Hail · Tornado
Residual market
Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA), tier-one coastal counties.
Named-storm / catastrophe deductible band
3% to 5% tier-one coastal; 1% to 5% hail belt inland
Lender treatment
TWIA base wind + private excess wind on coastal assets. Lender confirms TWIA assessment exposure at term-sheet stage.
Notes
TWIA eligibility limited to defined catastrophe area; Houston / Galveston / Corpus Christi / Brownsville coastal corridor most affected.
- Pillar: property insurance as financing gatekeeper →
- Tool: state insurance gating matrix →
- Hub: property insurance and CRE financing →
Educational only, not insurance, legal, or tax advice. Engage a state-licensed commercial property broker, lender's counsel, and (where applicable) a seismic engineer or wildfire-modeling specialist before LOI on every catastrophe-exposed deal. Bands and pool structures illustrative; confirm at the deal level.
Which lenders compete in Texas.
Most national debt funds, life companies, and CMBS desks treat Texas as a top-three market by allocation. The agencies (Fannie and Freddie) have heavy Texas multifamily desk capacity and frequently price aggressively to win the volume. Texas-headquartered regional banks compete strongly on smaller-balance perm and bridge for in-footprint sponsors with deposit relationships.
The unusual feature of the Texas market is the depth of secondary lender competition. Even on $5 to 15M deals where coastal markets typically draw two or three quotes, Texas frequently produces 6 to 10 real bids when the package is positioned correctly. That lender depth is the basis for the parallel quote process here, the bid pool is wide enough that the difference between the median and the best-priced quote routinely covers the entire advisory fee on the deal.
Frequently asked questions
What is the typical hail insurance line in Texas multifamily underwriting?
Lenders are now modeling property insurance at $300 to $650 per unit annually in Texas multifamily, depending on metro and asset vintage. Pre-2017 underwriting often used $200 per unit. Houston metro adds wind and named-storm deductibles that can run 2 to 5% of replacement cost. The right insurance number meaningfully affects DSCR and proceeds.
How do MUD taxes affect Texas commercial property underwriting?
Municipal Utility District (MUD) taxes can add 50 to 200 basis points of additional property tax on top of standard ad valorem rates in DFW exurbs and parts of Houston. Lenders include MUD obligations in NOI calculations. Pull current MUD rates from the appraisal district before signing the LOI, they often surprise out-of-state sponsors.
Which Texas counties have the highest commercial property tax burden?
Among the major metros, Travis County (Austin), Harris County (Houston), and Tarrant and Dallas counties typically combine to 2.2 to 2.9% of assessed value when school district, county, and MUD levies are included. Williamson County (north Austin) and Collin County (north DFW) can be modestly lower.
How long does a typical Texas multifamily refinance take to close?
Plan 50 to 70 days from signed application to funding for an agency execution, 30 to 45 days for a balance-sheet bank loan. Bridge debt funds can close in 25 to 35 days for a clean asset with full diligence ready.
What DSCR do Texas lenders require for stabilized assets?
Most institutional programs sit at a 1.20x to 1.25x DSCR floor for stabilized multifamily, 1.30x for office and retail, and 1.25x to 1.30x for industrial. Bridge programs may underwrite to going-in DSCR of 1.0x or below if the business plan supports stabilization to 1.25x within 24 to 36 months.
Is non-recourse debt available in Texas?
Yes. Agency, CMBS, life company, and most national debt-fund executions are non-recourse with standard bad-boy carve-outs. Bank loans often require some level of recourse, particularly for construction and bridge product where the lender holds the loan on balance sheet.
How does the Texas franchise tax affect lender underwriting?
Texas has no state income tax but levies a 0.75% franchise (margin) tax on businesses above the no-tax threshold. Lenders typically deduct franchise tax from NOI when sizing institutional loans on operating businesses, and underwrite single-purpose entity expense at the entity-specific rate.