In 2005, 2,670 different multi-family lenders provided a total of more than $133 billion in financing for apartment buildings with five or more units, according to a report from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). Lenders closed 49,727 individual loans, with an average loan size of $2.7 million. The average lender made 19 multi-family loans over the course of the year.
"The report, MBA Annual Report on Multi-family Originations, is a new report that demonstrates that the multi-family market is broad and deep, but very much segmented by size," said Jamie Woodwell, MBA's senior director of commercial/multi-family research. "For example, the top seven lenders each made more than 1,000 multi-family loans in 2005, while 716 lenders—27 percent of all active multi-family lenders—made just one multi-family loan during the year."
On a dollar basis, Wachovia was the largest multi-family lender in 2005, followed by Capmark and Washington Mutual. Washington Mutual closed the highest number of loans, followed by Capmark and Citigroup.
The average size of a multi-family loan in 2005 was $2.7 million, but this number belied significant market segmentation. Among 2,216 very small-loan lenders, the average multi-family loan size was just $500,000, compared to a $14.6 million average loan size among the 31 large-loan lenders. The numbers implied a national market for loans with larger balances and a more local market for smaller-balance multi-family loans.
The MBA Annual Report in Multi-family Originations included a description of the multi-family market and lenders within it; information on the very small-loan market (loans of $1 million or less); tables listing all 2,670 multi-family lenders in 2005, their loan volumes and average loan sizes; and the volume of very small loans made in each Metropolitan Statistical Area.
The report was based on data combined from the MBA 2005 Commercial Real Estate/Multi-Family Finance: Annual Origination Volume Summation and the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA). The MBA survey targeted specialized commercial/multi-family originators and covered $345 billion in combined commercial/multi-family originations in 2005. The HMDA data added multi-family loans from banks, thrifts and other institutions that met certain single-family origination thresholds.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau's American Housing Survey in 2005, 16 percent of American households lived in homes rented in a building with five or more units. These buildings, known as multi-family housing, are a critical part of the U.S. housing stock and a keystone in the nation's affordable housing.
For more information, visit www.mbaa.org.