Multifamily Lending in U.S. Jumped 13 Percent in 2014

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According to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) 2014 Report on Multifamily Lending, in 2014, there were 2,876 different multifamily lenders that provided a total of $195.1 billion in new mortgages for apartment buildings with five or more units.

The 2014 dollar volume represents a 13 percent increase from 2013 levels.  Sixty-five percent of the active lenders made five or fewer multifamily loans over the course of the year.

"Lenders provided more than $195 billion of capital to multifamily apartment owners in 2014, a new record," said Jamie Woodwell, MBA's Vice President of Commercial Real Estate Research.  "The lending came from a range of lenders - with two-thirds making five or fewer multifamily loans during the year - and went to a range of borrowers - with more than one-quarter of the loans being for $500,000 or less.  The market has continued to expand this year and shows every sign of breaking last year's record."

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 $195.1 billion of multifamily mortgages originated in 2014 went to a variety of investors.  By dollar volume, the greatest share, 35 percent of the total, went to commercial bank, thrift and credit union portfolios. 

The top five multifamily lenders in 2014 by dollar volume were J.P. Morgan Chase and Company, Wells Fargo, CBRE Capital Markets, Inc., Walker & Dunlop, and PNC Real Estate.