Many parts of the seniors housing industry slowed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the lending market. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two giant government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), experienced a significant pullback in deal volume in 2020, but remained two of the larger capital sources in the sector. “We are the predominant lender in the space,” says Steve Schmidt, national director of seniors housing loan production with Freddie Mac. “We stayed active at the height of the pandemic. Our underwriting changed, but we were still very active.” Freddie Mac’s annual lending volume in the seniors housing sector fell 45 percent year over year, from $3.8 billion in 2019 to $2.1 billion in 2020. Fannie Mae’s drop was even more dramatic. After growing from $2.3 billion in 2018 to $3.1 billion in 2019, volume dropped 71 percent to below $1 billion in 2020. Fannie Mae declined to be interviewed for this article. “Considering that year-over-year seniors transaction volume was down significantly, the agencies proved to be a tremendous source of liquidity in the market,” says Ryan Stoll, national director of seniors housing and care for Bellwether Enterprise. One reason Freddie Mac stayed active is that the organization’s mission is …
