M&T Realty Capital Corp. is beginning 2022 with ambitious plans to increase its multifamily financings as part of an effort to double its real estate loan volume over the next two to three years. To achieve those goals, it is leveraging a new leadership structure and a recently announced strategic partnership with the Marcus & Millichap Capital Corp. M&T Realty Capital, M&T Bank’s commercial mortgage banking subsidiary, recorded $5.1 billion in loan volume in 2021, a level that was just below its high watermark of $5.2 billion in 2019, says Michael Berman, CEO of M&T Realty Capital. Multifamily loans made up of the lion’s share of financings, he adds, and the sector provides a significant growth opportunity going forward. “Multifamily is a hot a sector right now — everyone is trying to invest in it,” he says. “It’s just an extraordinarily healthy asset class because of its supply and demand dynamics.” Indeed, the U.S. apartment market enjoyed a banner year in 2021 across all measures. Investment volume reached a record $335.3 billion, nearly 75 percent above the record volume of $193.1 billion posted in 2019, according to commercial real estate brokerage CBRE. Meanwhile, renters absorbed 617,500 apartment units in 2021, …
