Multifamily Lending Hit $360B in 2020

$ in Billions

Source: MBA

MBA earlier this month released its annual report of the multifamily lending market for 2020.

Various property types felt various levels of impact from the COVID-19 pandemic. For the multifamily market, 2020 was a very strong year, despite the tremendous uncertainty brought forth by the pandemic.

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.

Some 2,140 different multifamily lenders provided a total of $359.7 billion in new mortgages for apartment buildings with five or more units. The lending volume represented 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.

The $359.7 billion of multifamily mortgages originated 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. 

Breaking down by lenders, the top five multifamily lenders in 2020 by dollar volume were Walker & Dunlop, Berkadia, CBRE, Wells Fargo and Greystone.

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. Click here to purchase the report.