CREF Policy Update April 21, 2022

Commercial and multifamily developments and activities from MBA relevant to your business and our industry.

FHFA last week finalized its Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2022-2026, which provides insight into the agency’s activities and priorities for the coming years. Please see an article analyzing the Strategic Plan elsewhere in this issue.

Last Thursday, MBA signed a real estate finance joint trades letter asking the SEC to extend its proposed climate-risk disclosure rule comment period by 30 days. MBA released its 2021 Commercial Real Estate/Multifamily Finance Annual Origination Volume Summation, which showed commercial and multifamily mortgage bankers closed $683.2 billion of loans in 2021.

Sign MBA’s Home for All Pledge: Join the 200+ MBA member companies that have signed MBA’s Home for All Pledge, representing a commitment to promoting affordable rental housing; minority homeownership; and company diversity, equity, and inclusion. One senior executive (e.g., CEO, COO, President, Head of Lending, SVP) is encouraged to sign this online form on behalf of your organization. 

View Any Session You Missed from MBA CREF22: Were you one of the over 2,400 registrants that attended MBA’s Commercial/Multifamily Finance Convention & Expo? If you weren’t able to attend every session, they are available to you online for the next month. Simply access the program videos by clicking here. 

1. FHFA Finalizes Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2022 – 2026

This week, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) finalized its Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2022-2026, which provides insight into the Agency’s activities and priorities for the coming years. The final plan largely mirrors the draft released in February and contains the same three overarching goals: securing the regulated entities’ safety and soundness, fostering housing finance markets that promote equitable access to affordable and sustainable housing, and responsibly stewarding FHFA’s infrastructure.

• Why it matters: The Plan includes facilitating greater availability of affordable housing supply, including affordable rental housing, and also monitoring the GSEs’ support of multifamily housing needs with a focus in affordable, underserved, and workforce segments of the market.
• What’s next: MBA will continue to engage with FHFA on the GSEs and affordable rental housing, including urging FHFA to carefully monitor the mission-driven elements of the multifamily caps, the unit-based multifamily affordable housing goals, and market developments.

For more information, please contact Stephanie Milner at (202) 557-2747.

2. MBA Calls on the SEC to Extend Its Proposed Climate Disclosure Rule Comment Period 

On Thursday, MBA signed a real estate finance joint trades letter asking the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to extend its proposed climate-risk disclosure rule comment period by 30 days. The proposal spans over 500 pages and poses 201 questions on topics ranging from greenhouse gas disclosure requirements and mandatory climate-risk disclosures for public companies in their SEC filings. The SEC’s proposed rule on climate disclosures is one of the most significant changes to corporate disclosure rules in several decades.

• Why it matters: MBA and its real estate trade partners, along with the broad range of companies affected by the proposed rule, and the SEC, would all benefit from more time to analyze the proposal and its impacts. 
• What’s next: The extension request, if granted, would allow for a total comment period of 90 days. The current 60-day comment period is set to end May 20.

For more information, please contact Bruce Oliver at (202) 557-2840.

3. Commercial and Multifamily Mortgage Bankers Originated $683.2 Billion in 2021; Total Lending Tally Reaches New Record of $890.6 Billion 

Commercial and multifamily mortgage bankers closed $683.2 billion of loans in 2021, according to MBA’s 2021 Commercial Real Estate/Multifamily Finance Annual Origination Volume Summation, which was released yesterday. The $683.2 billion in commercial and multifamily mortgages closed last year was 55 percent higher than the $441.5 billion reported in 2020. For a copy of the report, please visit MBA’s Online Store at: www.mba.org/news-and-research/research-and-economics/commercial-multifamily-research/annual-origination-volume-summation.

• Why it matters: MBA estimates that total commercial real estate mortgage lending – including activity from smaller and mid-sized depositories not captured in MBA’s survey – equaled $890.6 billion in 2021, a 45 percent increase over 2020 ($614 billion), and a 25 percent increase over the previous annual record of $713 billion in 2019. Multifamily properties saw the highest volume of mortgage bankers’ origination volume last year at $376 billion, followed by office buildings, industrial properties, retail, hotel/motel, and health care. First liens accounted for 94 percent of the total dollar volume closed.
• Jamie Woodwell, MBA’s Vice President of Commercial Real Estate Research, said, “Improving property fundamentals and strong price appreciation drove borrowing and lending backed by commercial and multifamily properties to new highs in 2021, with strong activity from every capital source. Lending was 48 percent higher than any previous annual total for industrial properties and 31 percent higher for multifamily properties. Despite bounce-backs from low 2020 volumes, lending for other major property types remained below previous highs.”

For more information, please contact Jamie Woodwell at (202) 557-2936.

4. State Trackers

• State eviction moratorium and legislative activity tracker available here.

For more information, please contact William Kooper at (202) 557-2737 or Grant Carlson at (202) 557-2765.

5. Register Today: MBA’s National Advocacy Conference – April 26-27

Registration is open for MBA’s National Advocacy Conference (NAC) to be held April 26-27 in Washington, D.C. NAC allows you to connect directly with elected officials in our nation’s capital. Your story matters – share it with key policymakers as they consider and pass legislation that affects all of us. 

• Why it matters: The last two years have been unprecedented for millions of Americans, and the real estate finance industry is no different as we navigate new terrains. NAC gives you the opportunity to share your narrative with the key staff and decision-makers while networking with your colleagues from all over the industry. When we work together and combine our voices, we can do great things.  
• What’s next: Share your experiences, your voice, and your passion for our industry April 26-27! Register today at mba.org/nac.

For more information, please contact Rachel Kelley at (202) 557-2816.

9. MBA Education Webinars on Critical Industry Issues

MBA Education continues to deliver timely programming that covers the spectrum of challenges, obstacles and solutions pertaining to our industry. Below, please see a list of recent and upcoming webinars, which are complimentary to MBA members:

• Technology Investment: Keeping Pace with Your Peers – April 19
• CFPB Enforcement Authority Over Student Loans and Impact on Mortgage Lending – April 21
• CONVERGENCE: Measuring Housing Affordability in America – April 25
• Introduction to Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities – May 19
• New Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Condominium and Cooperative Guideline Changes – May 24
• What Trends will Shape the Lending Space in the Second Half of 2022 – June 2

MBA members can register for any of the above events and view recent webinar recordings.

For more information, please contact David Upbin at (202) 557-2931.