MBA: Multifamily Lending Jumped 13% Last Year

Nearly 3,000 different multifamily lenders provided $195.1 billion in new mortgages for five-plus-unit apartment buildings in 2014–up 13 percent year-over-year–the Mortgage Bankers Association reported this morning. 

“Lenders provided more than $195 billion of capital to multifamily apartment owners in 2014, a new record,” said MBA Vice President of Commercial Real Estate Research Jamie Woodwell. “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.”

Woodwell said the market has continued to expand this year “and shows every sign of breaking last year’s record.”  

MBA analyzed its surveys of larger multifamily lenders and the recently released Home Mortgage Disclosure Act 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, Woodwell said. 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 Co., Wells Fargo, CBRE Capital Markets Inc., Walker & Dunlop and PNC Real Estate.  

The report includes:  
A detailed summary of the $195 billion multifamily market,
Profiles of distinct market segments, including the very-small loan (loans of $1 million or less) lender segment,
A breakout of 2014 multifamily lending volume by investor group,
A listing of 2,876 lenders who made multifamily loans in 2014, including their lending volume, number of loans made and average loan size, and
A listing of metropolitan areas and the volume of very-small loans made in each in 2014.  

The report is based on data from the MBA 2014 Commercial-Multifamily Annual Origination Volume Summation and the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. 

The survey targeted dedicated commercial/multifamily originators and covered $400 billion in commercial/multifamily loans in 2014.  The HMDA data added multifamily loans from banks, thrifts and other institutions that meet certain single-family origination thresholds. When combined, the two datasets provide the most comprehensive assessment of the multifamily lending market available.

To purchase the report, visit: https://store.mortgagebankers.org/ProductDetail.aspx?product_code=EC6-300041-RP-I