Commercial Real Estate News
U.S. Multifamily Lending Dipped in 2020 to $359 Billion
According to the Mortgage Bankers Association's latest annual report of the multifamily lending market, in 2020, there were 2,140 different multifamily lenders that provided a total of $359.7 billion in new mortgages for apartment buildings with five or more units.
Last year's $359.7 billion in multifamily lending volume represents a 1 percent decrease from 2019's record level of $364.4 billion. Thirty-five percent of the active lenders made five or fewer multifamily loans over the course of the year.
"Multifamily borrowing and lending remained strong in 2020, despite the COVID-19 pandemic," said Jamie Woodwell, MBA's Vice President of Commercial Real Estate Research. "Robust financing for properties, increased refinancing activity through government-backed loans, and consistent mortgage availability from banks led the market to a level of mortgage originations that was essentially flat from the record year of 2019."
MBA's 2020 Multifamily Lending 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 $359.7 billion of multifamily mortgages originated in 2020 went to a variety of investors. By dollar volume, the greatest share (46 percent of the total) went to the Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs), Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The top five multifamily lenders in 2020 by dollar volume were Walker & Dunlop, Berkadia, CBRE, Wells Fargo, and Greystone.
