Banks Embrace Multifamily (Again)
There has already been an uptick in multifamily direct lending. Will this continue?

Last year, I had to retrain my social media algorithm.
I had devoted too much mental space to keeping up with current events. Every post and video stoked a new fear—war, environmental emergencies, constant and continual election stories.
It was too much.
So, I liked and engaged with the softer stuff. Photos of cute puppies. Cookie-decorating tutorials. Videos of rich people deciding which ridiculously expensive purse to buy. (And getting super opinionated about it, even though I could never afford one. But seriously, who picks orange box leather with palladium hardware? Come on!)
Stay alive till ’25, right? By any means necessary.
Well, we’re one month into the new year. And things are … looking up? At least for the multifamily industry. (Hey, I’ll take it!)
One area that is seeing an uptick is multifamily direct lending by banks.
“We’re starting to see an increase in quotes over the last 90 days on the banking side,” Andy Scott of JLL Capital Markets told reporter Gail Kalinoski for “Will Lower Rates Bring Banks Back?”
According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, multifamily originations have increased. And Scott said there are signs that larger banks are moving back into the market. Lower interest rates have also spurred firms to finance market-rate projects.
However, don’t start deleting those puppy videos yet—Kalinoski also found that some banks are still focusing on addressing internal asset management issues. Others are pursuing note-on-note or warehouse financing.
“I think there were banks that maybe got a little too aggressive,” commented J.C. de Ona of Centennial Bank. “You need to be careful about that, too.”
“Cautious optimism” seems to be the key term. But really, after the year we had, I think any optimism is a good thing!