Fast 50

Community Banks Saw CRE Loan Growth

For many community banks, commercial real estate provides a significant source for income, especially as residential loan demand has softened.

Connecticut’s Fastest-Growing Lenders of 2022, Ranked

By Diane McLaughlin
Commercial Record Staff

Community banks have emerged as big winners from the 125 percent year-over-year growth in commercial mortgage volumes statewide this year.

Community banks accounted for about half the lenders featured in The Commercial Record’s Fast 50 commercial lenders, based on both number of loans and mortgage volumes.

For many community banks, commercial real estate provides a significant source for income, especially as residential loan demand has softened. For some of the banks on this year’s list, market expansions and have helped drive growth, while the ongoing disruptions from mergers and acquisitions have continued to bring lending opportunities.

“We’re seeing a good benefit from a lot of the mergers and acquisitions in our industry,” said Brian McNamara, chief lending officer at Norwich-based Dime Bank. “People want to have a local bank where the local decisions are made, so it’s been pretty good for us over the past few years.”

RI Lender Finds CT Wins

The Fast 50, compiled from data collected by The Warren Group, publisher of The Commercial Record, reveals the 50 fastest-growing lenders in Connecticut for the first six months of the year, compared to the same period a year ago.

Connecticut had 2,250 commercial mortgages from January through June of 2022 worth $13 billion, compared to 1,890 loans worth $5.7 billion in the first six months 2021.

Scroll down to see our rankings of Connecticut’s fastest-growing lenders of 2022.

For Rhode Island-based Washington Trust, staying active in Connecticut’s commercial real estate market is part of the bank’s long-term strategy, said James Hagerty, executive vice president and chief lending officer at Washington Trust.

The $5.98 billion-asset stock bank, which was founded in 1800, saw its commercial mortgage volume and number of loans nearly triple year-over-year, according to The Warren Group. The bank has long had two commercial loan officers in Connecticut, McNamara said, and earlier this year it added another lender to focus on the state.

Some of the property types where the bank experienced year-over-year growth included multi-family, industrial and self-storage.

The bank, which has a branch in Mystic and a residential mortgage office in Glastonbury, focuses its commercial lending activity along the coast from the southeastern part of the state to Fairfield County. While Hagerty said the 2022 lending growth has happened across its market area, the bank found more opportunities in the New Haven and Fairfield County markets.

Also driving CRE loan growth in the first half of 2022 was the bank merger activity causing disruption in the market, Hagerty said, adding that the bank continues to see opportunities to increase its market share in the state.

Hagerty noted that the Washington Trust has long-time relationships with CRE brokers and others in the industry.

“We’ve received a very positive reception from centers of influence within the market given the recent merger activity,” Hagerty said. “We’ve been encouraged by those centers of influence that there’s an opportunity for our bank, given our knowledge of the market and long experience, to be successful there.”

Washington Trust has recently taken more steps to expand its Connecticut lending. The bank in July opened a commercial loan production office in New Haven and hired another loan officer, giving the bank four commercial lenders for the state.

Even with rising interest rates and economic uncertainties facing commercial lending, Hagerty said the bank is committed to Connecticut.

“We have a long view on things,” Hagerty said. “We’re there to stay and be impactful in the market.”

Opportunities in New Market

Dime Bank has also seen loan growth amid the market disruption caused by mergers, said McNamara, adding that opportunities have come not just from the recent activity. Bank consolidation over the past decade has affected what business owners expect from lenders.

“Local business owners get frustrated when they’ve been with a bank that gets taken over once or twice or even more, and they’re dealing with several different loan officers,” McNamara said. “They want to talk to the person that’s going to stay there for a while and be committed to the project.”

Dime Bank saw year-over-year commercial mortgage volume more than double in the first half of 2022, according to The Warren Group. The bank has had opportunities in multi-family, self-storage, residential subdivisions, retail shopping centers, office space and owner-occupied office buildings.

Part of Dime Bank’s recent CRE loan growth has also been driven by the bank’s expansion beyond New London County, McNamara said. The $1 billion-asset mutual bank, which was founded in 1869, opened new locations in Manchester and Glastonbury in late 2020. McNamara said the bank hired two commercial lenders for that area – one last year and another in 2022 – Dime Bank is planning to open another branch in Vernon.

Despite concerns about rising rates, the bank continues to see lending opportunities, McNamara said, including for multi-family projects. He added that some borrowers sought to lock in interest rates out of concerns rates would rise even higher.

While he expects the economic conditions to have some impact on lending, McNamara said the bank is used to managing the ebbs and flows of the economy.

“You’ll see a real good season, and then you’ll see a not-so-good season,” McNamara said. “The only thing that’s constant is change in the commercial lending business – we just adapt.”


The Fast 50 ranks the 50 fastest-growing loan providers in Connecticut, including mortgage and financial companies, banks, credit unions and other financial institutions. Sourced from real estate data analytics firm The Warren Group’s mortgage market share module, these rankings compare the number of loans through June 2021 to the number of loans made through June 2022, and the volume of loans through June 2021 to the volume of loans through June 2022. Rankings include purchase and non-purchase loans. Commercial rankings had a minimum of three loans in each year. Residential rankings had a minimum of five loans and a minimum of $1 million in volume in each year. Residential includes one- to four-families and condominiums. All rankings are statewide. All data is sourced by The Warren Group from public records, which may contain errors. For more information please contact Data Solutions at 617-896-5365.

Residential by Volume of Loans
Rank Lender Name 2022 Volume 2021 Volume Percent Change
1 Everett Fncl Inc dba Supreme Lending $44,421,754 $2,159,207 1957%
2 Interfirst Mortgage Company $30,886,020 $3,373,200 816%
3 Neat Loans LLC $43,776,020 $5,994,851 630%
4 Huntington National Bank $90,933,110 $15,109,700 502%
5 Dime Community Bank $29,597,404 $5,898,560 402%
6 Domenico Parziale $10,849,000 $2,327,769 366%
7 A & D Mortgage LLC $18,514,310 $4,768,885 288%
8 Axos Bank $11,482,649 $3,023,150 280%
9 Hometown Equity Mtg $7,527,000 $2,119,892 255%
10 PeoplesBank (Holyoke MA) $45,923,867 $14,421,378 218%
11 HomeXpress Mortgage Corporation $9,039,458 $2,898,600 212%
12 Secure Capital Group LLC $10,106,520 $3,394,960 198%
13 Hometown Bank $22,671,000 $7,616,814 198%
14 USA Housing and Urban Development $100,528,948 $35,485,459 183%
15 Silicon Valley Bank $48,047,218 $18,808,270 155%
16 All Credit Considered Mortgage Inc $5,959,615 $2,335,586 155%
17 Loan Funder LLC $37,455,566 $14,925,231 151%
18 East Coast Capital Corp $15,767,331 $6,632,227 138%
19 City National Bank $41,617,690 $19,087,750 118%
20 Ridgewood Savings Bank $41,015,949 $18,940,280 117%
21 Achieve Financial Credit Union $8,532,273 $3,977,230 115%
22 Watermark Capital Inc $21,925,006 $10,647,541 106%
23 Reliant Home Funding $6,907,438 $3,373,471 105%
24 Stormfield Capital Funding LLC $4,426,000 $2,204,350 101%
25 American Pacific Mortgage $4,776,503 $2,417,413 98%
Residential by Number of Loans
Rank Lender Name 2022 Number 2021 Number Percent Change
1 Everett Fncl Inc dba Supreme Lending 181 10 1710%
2 Interfirst Mortgage Company 83 11 655%
3 A & D Mortgage LLC 40 7 471%
4 Neat Loans LLC 68 14 386%
5 HomeXpress Mortgage Corporation 38 10 280%
6 All Credit Considered Mortgage Inc 22 6 267%
7 Hometown Equity Mtg 35 11 218%
8 Loan Funder LLC 107 45 138%
9 Reliant Home Funding 28 12 133%
10 Ridgewood Savings Bank 49 22 123%
11 Achieve Financial Credit Union 105 52 102%
12 Quontic Bank 54 28 93%
13 Premia Mortgage LLC 13 7 86%
14 Velocity Commercial Capital LLC 26 14 86%
15 City National Bank 27 15 80%
16 Mortgage Network Inc 142 81 75%
17 First Bank of Greenwich 42 24 75%
18 First Horizon Bank 17 10 70%
19 Titan Mutual Lending 27 16 69%
20 Connecticut Housing Finance Authority 350 208 68%
21 First National Bank 94 56 68%
22 Watermark Capital Inc 58 35 66%
23 UNMB Home Loans Inc 43 26 65%
24 American Pacific Mortgage 14 9 56%
25 Mutual Security Credit Union 106 69 54%
Commercial by Volume of Loans

Rank Lender Name 2022 Volume 2021 Volume Percent Change
1 Citicorp Mortgage Inc $988,504,041 $15,311,000 6356%
2 Citizens Financial Group $307,705,319 $5,111,819 5919%
3 JP Morgan Chase Bank $745,985,687 $25,912,003 2779%
4 Centreville Bank $45,491,503 $1,814,050 2408%
5 Arbor Commercial Funding LLC $79,253,000 $8,228,000 863%
6 Country Bank for Savings $39,324,000 $4,351,778 804%
7 Northwest Community Bank $24,930,480 $2,818,675 784%
8 Connecticut Community Bank $11,851,054 $1,860,500 537%
9 Customers Bank $42,650,000 $7,492,000 469%
10 Loan Funder LLC $24,801,525 $4,592,625 440%
11 Velocity Commercial Capital LLC $8,525,000 $1,623,000 425%
12 New England Certified Development Corp $9,505,000 $2,080,000 357%
13 Bank of Rhode Island $46,545,000 $10,959,100 325%
*14 M&T Bank NA $279,025,736 $71,974,727 288%
15 New Haven Bank $7,600,000 $2,047,500 271%
16 Chelsea Groton Bank $16,296,134 $4,494,120 263%
17 Eastern CT Savings Bank $15,794,420 $4,852,900 225%
18 Washington Trust Co $74,868,000 $25,238,750 197%
19 Capital One Bank $511,836,635 $177,133,882 189%
20 Silver Hill Funding $12,667,073 $4,530,950 180%
21 Sachem Capital Corp $36,815,148 $13,186,001 179%
22 Union Savings Bank $65,030,817 $24,124,751 170%
23 Dime Bank $30,180,128 $12,925,239 133%
24 Ion Bank $104,845,500 $46,157,700 127%
25 Community Investment Corp $12,859,074 $6,050,000 113%
*M&T and People’s United Combined      

Commercial by Number of Loans

Rank Lender Name 2022 Number 2021 Number Percent Change
1 Loan Funder LLC 44 8 450%
2 Velocity Commercial Capital LLC 29 6 383%
3 Connecticut Community Bank 10 3 233%
4 Washington Trust Co 20 7 186%
5 Eastern CT Savings Bank 25 9 178%
6 USA Housing and Urban Development 23 9 156%
7 Centreville Bank 15 6 150%
8 New Haven Bank 15 6 150%
9 NBT Bank NA 12 5 140%
10 First Bank of Greenwich 13 6 117%
11 Silver Hill Funding 27 13 108%
12 Fairfield County Bank Corp 34 17 100%
13 New England Certified Development Corp 13 7 86%
14 Community Investment Corp 18 10 80%
15 Dime Bank 33 19 74%
16 Bankwell Bank 12 7 71%
17 JP Morgan Chase Bank 10 6 67%
18 Westfield Bank 11 7 57%
19 Newtown Savings Bank 18 12 50%
20 First County Bank 35 25 40%
21 RCN Capital LLC 7 5 40%
22 Liberty Bank 55 41 34%
23 Citizens Financial Group 13 10 30%
24 Webster Bank 101 78 29%
25 Sachem Capital Corp 22 17 29%