Southeast

ATLANTA — Multifamily borrowers have a plethora of financing options at their beck and call, both from traditional debt sources and alternative platforms. With the competition among capital sources on the rise, sponsors are in an advantageous position. “More lenders are chasing multifamily since they’ve taken three commercial real estate food groups off the table — office, retail and hospitality,” explains Shawn Townsend, president and chief investment officer at Ease Capital. However, financing challenges remain. “But by and large the cost of debt capital has not gone down,” Townsend adds. Editor’s note: InterFace Conference Group, a division of France Media Inc., produces networking and educational conferences for commercial real estate executives. To sign up for email announcements about specific events, visit www.interfaceconferencegroup.com/subscribe. Townsend’s comments came during the capital markets panel at InterFace Multifamily Southeast, a two-day event held Dec. 1-2 at the Intercontinental Buckhead hotel in Atlanta. InterFace Conference Group and sister publications Multifamily & Affordable Housing Business and Southeast Real Estate Business hosted the networking and information conference. Stephen Farnsworth, senior managing director of real estate finance at Walker & Dunlop, moderated the session, which featured five lenders and financial intermediaries. Farnsworth opened by touching on the ebbs and …