Freddie Mac has announced today that it has become the nation's leader in multifamily lending for the first time, with $47.3 billion in loan purchase and bond guarantee volume for its multifamily business in 2015, up from $28.3 billion the previous year.
"We thank our dedicated Seller/Servicer network and loyal borrowers for enabling us to reach this historic volume milestone," said David Brickman, executive vice president of Freddie Mac Multifamily. "I am very proud of the Freddie Mac team who worked tirelessly all year serving and supporting the market and ensuring that we were able to achieve this significant result. Our financing is in every corner of the multifamily market and more diverse than ever, reaching into small balance loans, manufactured housing communities, seniors, student and government subsidized properties. We are focused on increasing the availability of mortgage capital, especially to the affordable and workforce housing sectors where demand continues to far outstrip supply."
Of the total new business volume, approximately $17 billion was not subject to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) loan purchase $30 billion cap and included certain loans for affordable housing, smaller multifamily properties, seniors housing and manufactured housing communities.
"We had very strong growth in our loan purchase business in 2015, and expect our volumes this year to align with the market's overall growth," said Brickman.
Freddie Mac Multifamily helps ensure an ample supply of affordable rental housing by purchasing and securitizing mortgages on apartment buildings nationwide. The loans range from $1 million to several billions and roughly 90 percent support rental units for low- and moderate-income households. Freddie Mac purchased more than $47 billion in multifamily mortgages in 2015, the majority of which were securitized, thus transferring the vast majority of the expected credit risk from taxpayers to private investors.
