CRE underwriting, from the rent roll to a signed memo.
Commercial real estate underwriting tests whether an income-producing property, and the sponsor behind it, can carry the debt. Kita reads the rent rolls and financials, computes debt service coverage from the spread, checks the file against your credit policy and drafts a cited credit memo for your underwriter to sign.
What does commercial real estate underwriting involve?
It means testing the property's income against the debt, then testing the sponsor. A CRE file mixes property documents with the borrower's own financials, and the two have to agree.
Rent roll
Every tenant and unit, with lease dates and rent. It is the starting point for the property's income.
Operating statements
The property's income and expenses, usually a trailing twelve months and prior years, which give net operating income.
Leases
The terms behind the rent roll: rent steps, expiry dates and which expenses each tenant pays.
Appraisal
The independent value that the loan-to-value ratio rests on.
Sponsor financials
Tax returns, personal financial statements and the schedule of other properties the borrower owns.
Debt service
The proposed loan's payments, existing debt on the property and the sponsor's other obligations.
How does Kita underwrite a commercial real estate loan?
Kita takes each file through five steps, from intake to a cited credit memo held against your policy, and your underwriter decides.
Collect the file
The AI Credit Officer asks the borrower for the documents your CRE policy requires, over WhatsApp, SMS or email, checks each upload as it lands and follows up until the file is complete.
Check every document for fraud
Kita Capture reads rent rolls, statements and tax returns in any format, including scans. It flags tampering and forgery patterns and catches contradictions across the file, such as income on one document that another does not support.
Spread the financials and read the risk
Statements, general ledgers and bank data become a normalized period-over-period spread, with debt service coverage, margin, debt service and trend computed in one pass. Kita then reads the risks the ratios miss, such as concentration, where one name carries most of the income.
Draft the memo against your policy
The file is held against your encoded credit policy, and anything outside it is flagged, never waved through. The AI Underwriter drafts the credit memo with every figure cited to the document line it came from.
Your underwriter decides
Your underwriter reviews work that is already done and signs the decision. The application, documents, checks and decision stay in one system of record, or go into the loan origination system you already use through the API.
What do lenders measure on a commercial real estate loan?
Mostly ratios built from the property's income and value, plus the strength of the sponsor. These are the ones a CRE credit policy usually sets limits for.
Net operating income
The property's income minus its operating expenses. It leaves out debt service, depreciation and capital spending.
Debt service coverage ratio
Net operating income divided by annual debt service. A property with $150,000 of NOI and $120,000 of annual loan payments covers its debt 1.25 times.
Loan-to-value
The loan amount divided by the property's appraised value. It shows how much room the collateral leaves if the loan goes bad.
Debt yield
Net operating income divided by the loan amount. It ignores the rate and amortization, so it compares the property's income with the debt alone.
Occupancy and rollover
How much of the space is leased, and how much of the rent comes up for renewal during the loan term.
Sponsor strength
The borrower's liquidity, net worth and global cash flow, which matter when the property's income falls short.
The coverage figure in a Kita memo is computed from the financial spread, not retyped from a prior memo, and every figure links back to the document line that produced it.
Who makes the credit decision?
Your underwriter does. Kita drafts and explains the analysis, holds the file against your credit policy and records every check, and a person on your team signs the decision.
Every figure links to the document line that produced it.
Your thresholds and required checks, encoded once, applied always.
The AI drafts and explains. A human makes every decision.
Every repayment and default sharpens the next recommendation.
API-first. Integrates into your existing LOS, credit engine or custom workflow.
SOC 2 Type II compliant and ISO 27001 certified.
Kita underwrites other loan types with the same method and your policy for each product: SBA 7(a) and 504 underwriting, Equipment finance underwriting, Working capital underwriting, and the rest on the loan underwriting software page.