Richmond's commercial mortgage book runs to $1.1 billion across 50 CMBS loans, and the strain is concentrated in one place. Office is both the largest sector at $409 million and by far the most distressed, with 40.6% of the book in special servicing or 60-plus days delinquent — nearly four times the 11.1% national office rate. Retail, the other $0.4 billion sector, shows no filed distress at all, below a 2.6% national mark. That split defines the metro: the credit problem here is an office problem.
The overall distress rate sits at 15.7% as of July 2026 and has held flat in the filed record, neither climbing nor easing. The median loan still carries a 1.79 debt-service coverage ratio, and the near-term pressure point is further out than this year's refinancing calendar: the heaviest maturity load lands in 2028, when $425 million — 40% of the book — comes due. Loans maturing in 2029, 2030 and 2031 are lighter and carry no filed distress.
Away from the trust-level data, the ground has been more active. Richmond logged 28 distress events over the past year — 12 store closures and 16 layoff notices — affecting 1,917 jobs. The local economy underneath remains firm, with unemployment at 3.6% as of August 2026, up a tenth of a point year over year. For now the office book is where the attention belongs, with 2028 the date to watch.
In Richmond, VA, three of the four legs are elevated: store closures at 12 closures, or 2.19 per 100k jobs; layoff notices (WARN) at 16 notices, or 0.28%; and bank CRE at lenders over the noncurrent line at $1.40bn, or 10.9%. Securitized loans in special servicing read 3 loan records at 15.73% and are not elevated. Of the six pairs of legs compared, 3 pairs with both legs elevated and 3 pairs where the legs disagree, with 0 pairs that cannot be read because a leg is blind.
| Signal | Level | Rate | Rank by count | Rank by rate | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| store closures store closures per 100,000 jobs |
12 closures | 2.19 per 100k jobs | 42 of 392 | 186 of 392 | elevated trailing 365 days to today
|
| layoff notices (WARN) workers on layoff notices as a share of the metro's employment |
16 notices | 0.28% | 44 of 382 | 80 of 382 | elevated trailing 365 days to today
|
| bank CRE at lenders over the noncurrent line share of the CRE lent into this metro that sits at a lender over the blended-noncurrent line |
$1.40bn | 10.9% | 32 of 393 | 49 of 393 | elevated
allocated 2026-06-30
|
| securitized loans in special servicing share of the securitized balance read here that is in special servicing |
3 loan records | 15.73% | 52 of 335 | 28 of 335 | quiet 2026-09-29
|
Richmond, VA shows elevated distress signals in bank CRE, with $1.40bn in distressed lender CRE (10.9%) against $12.82bn in bank CRE lent into this metro, and CMBS in special servicing at $166.0mm, equal to 15.7% of the metro's CMBS balance; the bank CRE at risk at the 90th percentile reads 10.9%. Store closures and WARN notices round out the elevated signals, while assets at those lenders sits at $0.00bn and the phase reads early — with the ground deteriorating but CRE credit not yet hit. The share of bank CRE needing no branch-deposit allocation reads 1.3%, and the count of legs agreeing is 3.
| Bank | Deposit share | CRE / Capital* | Room contributed | Noncurrent CRE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atlantic Union Bank VA | 24.1% | 264% total 363%
|
🔒 | 0.42% |
| Primis Bank VA | 42.7% | 188% total 317%
|
🔒 | 3.31% |
| Townebank VA | 12.0% | 249% total 345%
|
🔒 | 0.19% |
| Citizens And Farmers Bank VA | 65.0% | 267% total 304%
|
🔒 | 0.00% |
| Blue Ridge Bank, National Association VA | 34.9% | 255% total 315%
|
🔒 | 0.14% |
| Fulton Bank, National Association PA | 0.7% | 184% total 283%
|
🔒 | 0.79% |
| Locus Bank, Inc. VA | 36.5% | 195% total 226%
|
🔒 | 0.71% |
| First Community Bank VA | 5.4% | 202% total 296%
|
🔒 | 0.20% |
| Chesapeake Bank VA | 10.9% | 226% total 282%
|
🔒 | 0.29% |
| First Bank VA | 20.1% | 283% total 391%
|
🔒 | 0.00% |
| The First Bank And Trust Company VA | 1.8% | 240% total 277%
|
🔒 | 0.08% |
| Virginia National Bank VA | 1.9% | 226% total 289%
|
🔒 | 0.00% |
| Southern Bank And Trust Company NC | 0.1% | 158% total 320%
|
🔒 | 0.12% |
| Bank | Total CRE | CRE / Capital* | Noncurrent CRE | Early Warning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Locus Bank, Inc. | $170M | 195% total 226%
|
0.71% | 🔒 |
| Atlantic Union Bank | $15.9B | 264% total 363%
|
0.42% | 🔒 |
| New Horizon Bank, National Association | $126M | 264% total 401%
|
0.08% | 🔒 |
| Citizens And Farmers Bank | $1.0B | 267% total 304%
|
0.00% | 🔒 |
| Community Bankers' Bank | $73M | 286% total 351%
|
0.00% | 🔒 |
Richmond's capacity picture is tight: the CMBS maturing in the window stands at $572.4mm across 19 loans, while local bank room of $973.0mm before committed draws is cut to $229.6mm after $1.28bn in committed construction draws, leaving a wall-to-room ratio of 2.49 (versus 0.59 before committed draws). That ranks the metro 32 out of 275 counting from the most strained, and the $1.05bn total CMBS balance here carries a 15.7% distressed share. The read is qualified, though: 13 banks qualify and 9 are excluded from the calculation, and this case is not explained by exclusion — the room is a proxy from deposit footprint rather than a measured lending footprint, and the wall covers only maturing CMBS, so every ratio is an upper bound on what local banks would have to absorb.
| REIT | SS NOI | SS Revenue | Occupancy | Rent | As Of |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MAA | +5.8% | +4.7% | 96.2% | +2.9% | 2026-07-29 |
| UDR | +5.1% | +3.9% | 96.3% | +4.4% | 2025-10-29 |
Over the past 365 days, Richmond, VA has seen 12 store closures and 16 WARN layoff notices, with 1,917 jobs on those notices — a figure that is a floor, since notices stating no headcount are counted but contribute nothing to the total. CRE-related bankruptcies are reported as 1, but that reading is a state-level proxy rather than a metro-native count, so it should not be read as activity on the ground in Richmond itself.