MIAMI—The CRE Finance Council (CREFC) January Conference 2015 is underway at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach Hotel this week. This is a time when CREFC releases the results of a survey that measures the sentiments of financial industry players in everything from the US economy, interest rates, liquidity, and property fundamentals to lending, investing, and leverage.

The conclusion: leading commercial real estate lenders and investors see a strong year ahead with ample credit and capital available to meet borrower demand. CREFC members expect loan volumes in 2015 to top those in 2014 as loan maturities rise and property fundamentals improve.

"The mood among the industry experts on the first day of the annual CREFC January conference was heightened by the expectation that 2015 would produce between $100 and $150 billion of new issuance but tempered by concerns over looser underwriting standards caused by fierce competition to place capital in the market and the potential effect of new risk retention rules,” Marjie Nealon, a partner at Bilzin Sumberg, tells GlobeSt.com. “The CMBS market reflects a healthy sense of anxiety with mixed messages from industry participants regarding its continued growth."