MCLEAN, VA. — Freddie Mac has become the nation’s leader in multifamily lending for the first time, with $47.3 billion in loan purchase and bond guarantee volume in 2015. The total is up 67 percent from Freddie Mac’s 2014 total of $28.3 billion. “We thank our dedicated seller/servicer network and loyal borrowers for enabling us to reach this historic volume milestone,” says David Brickman, executive vice president of Freddie Mac Multifamily. “I am very proud of the Freddie Mac team who worked tirelessly all year serving and supporting the market and ensuring that we were able to achieve this significant result.” In comparison, Fannie Mae’s volume was $42.3 billion. This is the first year that Freddie Mac’s volume topped that of Fannie Mae. Of the total new business volume, $17.3 billion was not subject to the Federal Housing Finance Agency loan purchase cap of $30 billion and included loans for affordable housing, smaller multifamily properties, seniors housing and manufactured housing communities. “We had very strong growth in our loan purchase business in 2015, and expect our volumes this year to align with the market’s overall growth,” says Brickman. Freddie Mac Multifamily purchases and securitizes mortgages on apartment buildings nationwide. The …
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AUSTIN, TEXAS — Stratus Properties Inc. (NASDAQ: STRS) has completed the $150 million refinancing of its mixed-use development in downtown Austin, which includes W Austin Hotel & Residences and Austin City Limits Live at the Moody Theater. The W Austin Hotel is a high-rise luxury hotel located in downtown Austin’s Second Street District and a half-mile from the Austin Convention Center. Amenities at the hotel include a spa, business center and multi-room lobby bar. The hotel is also located next door to Austin City Limits Live at the Moody Theater, a music venue and production facility with a 2,700-seat capacity. Concerts at the theater are taped and aired each year on PBS affiliates nationwide. Goldman Sachs Mortgage Co. provided the 10-year, non-recourse term loan with interest fixed at 5.58 percent and payable monthly based on a 30-year amortization. In September, Stratus purchased the interest in the property of its former partner, Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund II. The purchase was based on a net price of approximately $187.2 million. The trailing 12-month net operating income (NOI) for the W Austin Property at the time Stratus purchased Canyon’s interest was $15.6 million, which equates to a capitalization rate of 8.33 percent. Stratus refinanced …
For the second time in three years, Lancaster Pollard can lay claim to being the most active seniors housing lender in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s LEAN mortgage insurance program. The Columbus, Ohio-based firm closed 65 loans totaling $531 million in fiscal year 2015 to earn the No. 1 ranking. (HUD’s fiscal year runs from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30.) What’s more, Lancaster Pollard’s activity in the HUD LEAN program in FY 2015 was more than double that of its next closest competitors, both in number of loans closed and total loan amount. Housing & Healthcare Finance LLC ranked as the No. 2 lender by dollar volume with a total loan amount of $264 million in FY 2015. Meanwhile, Capital Funding LLC recorded the second highest number of loans closed at 28. Lancaster Pollard’s No. 1 ranking shouldn’t come as a surprise. During the past six fiscal years, the company has generated the largest volume of HUD LEAN activity with 461 loans closed totaling $3.4 billion. In FY 2013, it also recorded the highest loan production among lenders in the program with $811.7 million in loans closed. Driving factors The vast majority of Lancaster Pollard’s deal volume …
IRVINE, CALIF. — With online real estate transactions becoming increasingly competitive, Auction.com is rebranding as Ten-X and will expand its platform in the coming months to include options that will give sellers the choice of executing transactions using an online auction or a non-auction process online. When it relaunches in March, the company will feature three websites, including Ten-X Commercial, a dedicated site for commercial real estate. Ten-X Homes will be dedicated to residential real estate. Auction.com will continue, but will focus on investment properties for residential real estate buyers. “We’re shifting from a disposition platform for distressed assets into a marketplace where people can come and buy traditional, high-quality properties,” says Rick Sharga, the company’s executive vice president. “That has been a big change for us over the past 18 months.” In mid-March, the company’s new transactional platforms will be on display at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. The annual set of film, interactive media and music festivals attracts entrepreneurs and creative types. Ten-X will launch Ten-X Homes in Miami, Denver, Dallas and Phoenix — all of which are projected to be strong residential markets in 2016, says Sharga. In the first quarter, Ten-X is expected to announce …
Walker & Dunlop Provides $1.3B Refinancing for Seniors Housing Giant Holiday Retirement
by Jeff Shaw
BETHESDA, MD. — Walker & Dunlop Inc. (NYSE: WD) has closed a $1.3 billion refinancing for Holiday Retirement, by far the largest financing transaction in the lender’s history. The seven-year, adjustable-rate loans through Freddie Mac are secured by a 78-property portfolio of Holiday’s independent living facilities in 30 states across the country. The lender structured and closed the financing in 47 days. Holiday is the second largest operator of seniors housing in the United States, managing over 300 communities, and the 10th largest owner, according to the American Seniors Housing Association based on data as of July 1, 2015. The company focuses mainly on independent living properties. The refinancing is nearly double the size of Walker & Dunlop’s second largest transaction, a $670 million loan in 2015. “Closing a transaction of this size in such a short time period required exceptional teamwork by Walker & Dunlop, Holiday Retirement and Freddie Mac,” says Willy Walker, chairman and CEO of Walker & Dunlop. For all of 2015, Walker & Dunlop completed $2.8 billion of seniors housing financing. “And we’re focused on continuing to expand our presence within this growing market,” says Walker. Russell Dey and Laura Beaton, both vice presidents, led the …
Irvine Co. to Launch $150M Overhaul of Irvine Spectrum Center Following Macy’s Closing
by John Nelson
IRVINE, CALIF. — Irvine Co., a private real estate investor and master planner, has announced a $150 million reinvestment in Irvine Spectrum Center, a high-profile shopping center in Southern California. Irvine Co. will build 20 new stores within two buildings on the current site of Macy’s, which earlier this week announced the closure of 40 stores nationwide, including the one at Irvine Spectrum Center. “The Macy’s closing has been contemplated for months and has provided us with a unique opportunity to rebalance Irvine Spectrum Center with additional retail stores to ensure that it continues as one of Southern California’s premier shopping, dining and entertainment lifestyle destinations,” says Easther Liu, chief marketing officer for Irvine Co. Retail Properties. “As a master-planning company and long-term owner, we are always exploring how we evolve Irvine Spectrum Center’s vibrancy and relevancy to marry with our customers’ evolving tastes.” In addition to the new stores, Irvine Co. will upgrade the shopping center’s landscaping, add outdoor seating and shade areas, improve the parking garage and implement new amenities. The new retailers joining the shopping center haven’t been announced, but Irvine Spectrum Center’s current tenant mix includes Nordstrom, Target, H&M, Apple Store, Anthropologie, lululemon athletica, Forever 21, …
NEW YORK — The national apartment vacancy rate climbed 10 basis points in the fourth quarter to 4.4 percent, according to Reis. This marked the second consecutive quarter that vacancy ticked up for the multifamily sector, something that hasn’t happened since the third and fourth quarters of 2009. Ryan Severino, senior economist and director of research at New York-based Reis, believes that the two-quarter decline represents a turning point in the U.S. apartment market. “With construction outpacing demand, the national vacancy rate should slowly drift higher over the coming years,” writes Severino in the report. Reis reports that while demand and supply have been largely in balance between mid-2013 and mid-2015, that has started to change over the last two quarters. Construction exceeded absorption by 12,350 units in the third quarter and 15,263 units in the fourth quarter. For comparison, construction only exceeded demand by 3,471 units in the second quarter. “With construction continuing to increase and net absorption generally stabilizing, this rift should continue to widen over time putting further upward pressure on the national vacancy rate,” writes Severino. For 2015, the total number of units completed was 188,306, according to Reis. This is the highest figure since 1999 when the total was …
MIRAMAR, FLA. — CBRE has brokered the sale of Modera Town Center, a new 487-unit, Class A multifamily asset located at 11575 City Hall Promenade in the Miami suburb of Miramar. CIP II/MRCT Miramar Town Center LLC, a joint venture between CrossHarbor Capital Partners and Mill Creek Residential Trust, sold the asset to Miramar Apartment Co. for $120 million. The property is located within the 54-acre, master-planned Miramar Town Center, which includes mix of 320,000 square feet of office, retail and civic buildings. “Anchored by the 6 million-square-foot Miramar Park of Commerce, the Miramar address represents one of Broward County’s largest and most sought-after office and industrial markets,” says Robert Given, vice chairman of CBRE Multifamily. The property is 88 percent leased with an average market rent of $1.78 per square foot. Modera Town Center consists of 353 units in two midrise buildings and a mix of 134 two- and three-bedroom townhomes. Interior finishes include granite countertops, ceramic tile flooring, espresso cabinets, stainless-steel GE appliances, accessories, tile backsplash, full-size washer and dryer and knockdown finishes on the walls and ceiling. All units feature covered parking via a parking garage for the midrise units or direct access garages in the townhomes. …
KANSAS CITY, MO. — Highwoods Properties Inc. (NYSE: HIW) has agreed to sell the historic, 1.3 million-square-foot Country Club Plaza in Kansas City. A joint venture of Taubman Centers Inc. (NYSE: TCO) and The Macerich Co. (NYSE: MAC) will buy the mixed-use center for $660 million. Originally constructed in 1922, Country Club Plaza is a 15-block, 55-acre mixed-use retail and office property in downtown Kansas City. The retail portion of the property includes 804,000 square feet of gross leasable area, and features 45 retailers such as Apple, H&M, Coach, Burberry and Lululemon, as well as restaurants including The Capital Grille and The Cheesecake Factory. The 468,000-square-foot office portion of the property is comprised of the 10-story Valencia tower, which serves as the worldwide headquarters of Lockton Cos., an insurance brokerage firm, and additional office space located above the ground-level retail. Eastdil Secured is the agent for the sale of the property, which is 94 percent occupied. Highwoods acquired Country Club Plaza in 1998 when it purchased the J.C. Nichols Co. for $544 million. Annual attendance at the plaza is 15 million, according to Visit KC, an economic development organization. The Taubman and Macerich joint venture is known as Country Club Plaza …
NORTHBROOK, ILL. — Cap rates in the fourth quarter of 2015 for the national single-tenant net lease retail sector remained unchanged from the previous quarter at their historic low rate of 6.25 percent. According to The Boulder Group, a Northbrook-based boutique investment real estate firm, cap rates for the office and industrial sector reached new historic lows of 7 percent and 7.4 percent, respectively. During 2015, cap rates for retail, office and industrial properties declined by 15, 35 and 26 basis points respectively as investor interest has increased due to the safe and stable returns this asset class generates, according to the report. Cap rates for all major sectors remained unchanged or declined in the fourth quarter. This can be attributed to the limited supply of product in a market with high demand despite a wide spread expectation of higher interest rates in the future. From the third quarter of 2015 to the fourth quarter of 2015, the overall supply of net lease assets decreased by more than 11 percent. Retail assets experienced the largest decline of 12.5 percent. Investor demand has continued for this asset class despite the decline in cap rates over the course of 2015. The increased …