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 loans range from $1 million to several billion and roughly 90 percent support rental units for low- and moderate-income households. The majority of the loans were securitized, transferring the vast majority of the expected credit risk from taxpayers to private investors.
— Haisten Willis