Starwood Lines Up $1.7B Refi for Affordable Portfolio

Starwood Real Estate Income Trust has obtained a $1.7 billion loan to refinance a collection of 52 properties encompassing 12,955 workforce and affordable units across 10 states. Walker & Dunlop originated the 10-year, Freddie Mac note.

SREIT acquired the portfolio from Strata Equity Group as part of a larger 62-asset purchase in 2021. Shortly after closing, the REIT secured a $2 billion two-year, interest-only CMBS loan with three one-year extension options. Citi, Deutsche Bank and Wells Fargo originated and sold that note.

The 62-property Strata portfolio was spread throughout California, Colorado, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Washington. Georgia comprised the largest unit count (4,590 apartments), followed by North Carolina (2,339) and Tennessee (2,113).

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Built in 1995 on average, the communities in the Strata collection are in 27 different metros, with nearly half of them in primary markets and the remainder almost equally split between secondary and tertiary emerging housing markets. Atlanta leads by unit count (2,969 units), but Dallas is home to the largest community, the 730-unit Gio Apartments in Plano, Texas.

The current financing agreement includes smaller collateral compared to the 2021 note, as SREIT divested some of the assets it had purchased from Strata.

For instance, early last year, it sold a 360-unit property in Parker, Co., to Bell Partners for $103.3 million, according to Yardi Matrix data. Also in 2025, the REIT sold a 264-unit community in Duluth, Ga., for $49 million to FCP and a 300-unit asset in Kennesaw, Ga., for $60.8 million to Greystar.

Walker & Dunlop Senior Managing Directors Dustin Stolly, Aaron Appel, Jonathan Schwartz, Keith Kurland and Adam Schwartz, together with Managing Director Sean Reimer and Senior Directors Michael Stepniewski and Michael Ianno, originated the financing.

Starwood’s affordable housing endeavors

SREIT’s global portfolio included 598 properties at the end of February, 24 percent of which being affordable housing assets. Some of them were acquired through the Woodstar Fund, an investment vehicle that includes the REIT’s Florida income-restricted properties. The fund held 58 communities totaling 14,793 units as of December 2025.

At the end of last year, the REIT sold one of the assets, the 264-unit Wyngate in St. Petersburg, Fla., to the Foundation for Affordable Housing, Yardi Matrix shows. Starwood had acquired it in 2015 for some $20.3 million.