Market Report – September 2026 | How the September Fed Rate Hike Impacted DSCR and Bridge Loan Markets

September brought the first Fed rate increase since 2023 and, with it, renewed concerns about rising rates within business-purpose lending. As I covered here, the increase was heavily anticipated within our industry and had been a factor in the rate movement of the last couple of months. DSCR rates have risen recently, but by much less than 10-year Treasury yields and consumer mortgage rates for now.

Among same-store users, bridge loan transactions rebounded from nearly flat year-over-year growth in August to post 13% growth in September, the second strongest month of 2026 so far. Year-to-date growth remains consistent at 9%, though Q3 transaction volume is down 5.8% from Q2, a pattern that carried over from 2025.

Despite rates rising nearly everywhere else, bridge loan rates surprisingly dropped 7 basis points to 10.03% in September. Average loan amounts rose again to $744,687 nationally, the highest monthly average on record for Lightning Docs.