MBA Reports Multifamily Lending Up 33 Percent

In 2012, 2,803 different multifamily lenders provided a total of $146.1 billion in new mortgages for apartment buildings with five or more units, according to a report from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). The 2012 dollar volume represents a 33 percent increase from 2011 levels. Sixty-seven percent of the active lenders made five or fewer multifamily loans over the course of the year. The MBA report is based on its surveys of the larger multifamily lenders and the recently released Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data that covers multifamily loans made by many smaller lenders, particularly commercial banks. The $146 billion of multifamily mortgages originated in 2012 went to a variety of investors.  By dollar volume, the greatest share (40 percent of the total) went to the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In terms of number of loans, the greatest share (80 percent) went to commercial bank, thrift and credit union portfolios. The top five multifamily lenders in 2012 by dollar volume were JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A., Wells Fargo, CBRE Capital Markets, Inc., Walker & Dunlop, and Berkadia. ”In many ways we were in a golden age of multifamily finance in 2012, that to a large extent continues today,” said Jamie Woodwell, MBA’s vice president of Commercial Real Estate Finance. “Low interest rates, strong property fundamentals and increasing multifamily property prices are all supporting a very favorable lending environment.  The 33 percent increase in lending volume in 2012 brought levels nearly back to where they had been in 2007.” The MBA report is the most comprehensive view available of the multifamily lending market and includes: ►A detailed summary of the $146.1 billion multifamily market, ►Profiles of distinct market segments, including the very-small loan (loans of $1 million or less) lender segment, ►A breakout of 2012 multifamily lending volume by investor group, ►A listing of 2,803 lenders who made multifamily loans in 2012, including their lending volume, number of loans made and, average loan size, and ►A listing of metropolitan areas and the volume of very-small loans made in each in 2012. The report is based on data from the MBA 2012 Commercial Multifamily Annual Origination Volume Summation and the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA). The MBA survey targets dedicated commercial/multifamily originators and covered $244 billion in commercial/multifamily loans in 2012. The HMDA data adds multifamily loans from banks, thrifts and other institutions that meet certain single-family origination thresholds. When combined, the two datasets provide the most comprehensive assessment of the multifamily lending market available.