Multifamily Lending in U.S. Spiked 28 Percent in 2015

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Multifamily Lending in U.S. Spiked 28 Percent in 2015

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association's 2015 Annual Report on Multifamily Lending, in 2015, there were 2,855 different multifamily lenders that provided a total of $249.8 billion in new mortgages for apartment buildings in the U.S. with five or more units.

The 2015 dollar volume represents a 28 percent increase from 2014 levels.  Sixty-three percent of the active lenders made five or fewer multifamily loans over the course of the year.

"Multifamily mortgage borrowing and lending set a new record in 2015," said Jamie Woodwell, MBA's Vice President of Commercial Real Estate Research. 

"Demand for mortgages was driven by strong property fundamentals, increasing property values, a robust transaction market and low interest rates.  Supply of mortgage capital came through record levels of lending by banks, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and life insurance companies.  As we look at 2016 and 2017, those factors appear to remain in place."

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 $249.8 billion of multifamily mortgages originated in 2015 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 2015 by dollar volume were JP Morgan Chase and Company, Wells Fargo, Berkadia, CBRE Capital Markets, Inc., and Walker & Dunlop.