WASHINGTON, D.C. — Multifamily lending was up 8 percent year-over-year in 2016, with 2,822 different multifamily lenders providing a total of $269.2 billion in financing for apartment buildings with five or more units, according to a new report from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). It was another record year for U.S. multifamily lending, according to Jamie Woodwell, MBA’s vice president of Commercial Real Estate Research. Woodwell says that momentum is still strong in 2017, but this summer the MBA predicted that 2017 volume for commercial and multifamily originations will dip by 3 percent.
By dollar volume, the greatest market share (39 percent) went to the government sponsored enterprises (GSEs), Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The top five multifamily lenders in 2016 by dollar volume were Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase and Co., CBRE Capital Markets Inc., Berkadia and Walker & Dunlop. The report is based on data from the MBA 2016 Commercial/Multifamily Annual Origination Volume Summation and the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA). The MBA survey targets dedicated originators and covered $491 billion in commercial and multifamily loans in 2016.