The biggest change AI is bringing to commercial real estate in 2026 may not be happening on the property side of the transaction. It is happening in the financing process. As lenders use AI to analyze deals, assess borrower risk, automate underwriting, and match sponsors with suitable capital, financing decisions that once took weeks are increasingly happening in days or even hours.
That shift is especially important when the financing need is an earnest money deposit (EMD). A sponsor can find the right property, negotiate favorable terms, and still lose the deal simply because the deposit has to be funded before traditional financing is ready. AI-driven deposit financing is changing that equation by automating parts of the approval process and helping sponsors secure capital quickly enough to meet tight closing deadlines.
In what follows, we consider how this trend is helping CRE sponsors and investors excel in competitive markets.
Accessibility and speed: The shift towards alternative lending
Though traditional financing has the lowest interest rates, CRE investors continue to embrace alternative lending and creative financing at an increasing rate. There are two main reasons for this shift.
First, traditional financing continues to be largely inaccessible due to a rigid approval process (that involves manual underwriting and extensive documentation), as well as strict credit and collateral requirements.
Liquidity and regulatory constraints faced by traditional banks also heighten this inaccessibility. Moreover, traditional financial institutions continue to face the effects of the high interest rates that followed the post-COVID-19 economy.
Second, even if traditional lenders end up approving a financing request, the process takes so much time. In fast-moving markets, investors who depend on traditional financing methods end up being at a disadvantage.
Consequently, many investors and sponsors are embracing alternative lending solutions like private credit funds and fintech platforms. These providers have a simplified underwriting process that solves for both accessibility and speed.
Instead of focusing exclusively on credit scores, they employ a comprehensive but quick underwriting process that prioritizes the quality of a given deal and the investor’s capacity to see it through.
AI underwriting as a driver of accessibility and speed in EMD lending
Underwriting has traditionally depended heavily on manual review. A lender receives financial statements, transaction documents, property information, borrower details, and other supporting materials before an underwriter evaluates the application.
There is nothing inherently wrong with that process. For complex CRE transactions, human judgment remains important.
The problem is that manual underwriting can create bottlenecks when a sponsor needs a decision quickly.
And EMD lending is one area where speed extremely matters.
As a result, EMD financing platforms like Duckfund are embracing artificial intelligence to automate the underwriting process while enhancing both accessibility and speed.
This occurs in two ways.
First, they focus on data points that actually matter for the deal in question. Instead of requesting for credit scores and reports, they ask for a negotiated Purchase and Sale Agreement (PSA) and other details about the deal . As a result, investors can complete an application within five minutes.
Second, they use AI to quickly process these data, focusing on deal quality and sponsor credibility. AI systems can organize information, identify relevant data points, flag inconsistencies, assess transaction characteristics, and help lenders determine which applications warrant further review.
By automating the underwriting workflows, they approve financing requests within 24 hours and deploy capital within 48 hours.
Speed as a competitive factor in EMD financing
EMDs became popular as a way for sellers to move quickly by focusing their energy on serious potential buyers. For buyers, it is the first hurdle that must be crossed before due diligence can proceed.
However, many serious potential buyers have lost out on strategic properties because other buyers could come up with the EMD required faster. When the market is competitve, it is no longer about whether an investor can provide earnets money but how quickly they can do it.
In such circumstances, AI underwriting becomes favorable as investors who are temporary illiquid or have committed cash to other purposes can quickly get the EMD sorted with EMD financing providers.
There is anothe relevant point here: many buyers are now proposing higher EMD amounts as another way to gain a compeitive edge. So, if a seller requests a 10% EMD, they propose 15%. By combining speed with higher amounts, these investors are crushing it in competitive markets.
A platform like Duckfunds supports this strategy. With them, investors and sponsors can propose higher EMD amounts without any negative effect on speed. It takes the same time to get a 5% EMD as a 15% EMD.
Will traditional financing ever become as accessible and fast as alternative lending? Not likely.
Consequently, investors who prioritize these two qualities need to continue to focus on financing companies that use AI underwriting process to guarantee accessible and fast funding. Only then can they compete in competiitve markets.
