Commercial real estate lenders funded more loans to finance apartment buildings last year than during any previous year on record.
During all of 2015, there were $249.8 billion in mortgages that were originated which were secured by multifamily properties.
Multifamily lending moved higher compared to the prior year, when volume worked out to a previously reported $195.1 billion.
Those details were delivered in the Mortgage Bankers Association’s 2015 Annual Report on Multifamily Lending. The trade group said the metrics were derived from a survey of larger multifamily lenders and Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data.
“Multifamily mortgage borrowing and lending set a new record in 2015,” MBA Vice President of Commercial Real Estate Research Jamie Woodwell said in the report. “Demand for mortgages was driven by strong property fundamentals, increasing property values, a robust transaction market and low interest rates.”
Last year’s
production was generated by 2,855 different lenders, fewer than the 2,876 companies responsible for 2014’s multifamily originations.
MBA noted that 63 percent of active lenders in 2015 made five or fewer multifamily loans.
Financial institutions — including commercial banks, thrifts and credit unions — funded 35 percent of last year’s multifamily loans for their portfolios.
The five-largest multifamily lenders in 2015 were
JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co., Berkadia, CBRE Capital Markets Inc. and Walker & Dunlop.
In a separate announcement, Fannie Mae reported that it issued $17.9 billion in multifamily mortgage-backed securities
during the third quarter 2016.