HOUSTON — Walker & Dunlop, a commercial real estate finance and brokerage firm based in Bethesda, Md., has expanded its platform by adding five debt and equity finance professionals in Houston. Mike Melody, Tom Melody, Tom Fish, Paul House and Jonathan Paine, formerly with JLL, will join Walker & Dunlop and comprise the firm’s first office in Houston, where they will be responsible for securing financing for commercial owners and developers across the Southwestern United States.
SAN DIEGO — While agency volume may decrease slightly in 2019 due to tougher energy conservation standards in green lending programs offered by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the multifamily debt market overall is expected to grow this year, according to a veteran mortgage banker. Jeff Burns, managing director at Walker & Dunlop’s Walnut Creek, Calif., office, spoke to REBusinessOnline at the MBA 2019 Commercial Real Estate Finance/Multifamily Housing Convention & Expo. The event, held at the Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego, took place Feb. 10-13. Although the 10-year Treasury yield is down about 50 basis points since reaching 3.2 percent in early November, most economists expect long-term rates to rise in 2019. (Investor worries over trade conflicts, a volatile equities market and falling oil prices led to a precipitous drop in the yield on the benchmark Treasury note.) Burns, who is responsible for new loan origination in California and the western United States, discussed trends in agency lending as well as the state of the multifamily market. What follows are his edited responses: Rebusinessonline.com: What trends are you seeing in agency financing for the multifamily sector in the western region? Jeff Burns: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continue to …