Tag Archives: Multifamily

According to a release, Freddie Mac issued a record $28 billion in multifamily securities in 2013 through 19 of its K-Deals. Those figures are up from $21.2 billion through 17 K-Deals in 2012.

Multifamily lenders provided a total of $146.1 billion in new mortgages for apartments with five or more units--a 33 percent increase from 2011, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). "In many ways we were in a golden age of multifamily finance in 2012, that to a large extent continues today," said Jamie Woodwell, MBA's VP of commercial real estate finance. "Low interest rates, strong property fundamentals and increasing multifamily property prices are all supporting a very favorable lending environment."

The National Association of Home Builders' (NAHB) Housing Market Index (HMI) stalled at 58 in September, unchanged from August's downwardly revised reading, the group reported.

Continuing to shrug off sequester cutbacks, but feeling the effects of adverse weather, the nation's economy "continued to expand at a modest to moderate pace" from early July though late August, the Federal Reserve reported in its Beige Book assessment. Residential real estate activity "increased moderately" and "demand for nonresidential real estate increased," though "lending activity weakened a bit." Lending standards have largely remained unchanged, while credit quality has improved.

Federal affordable housing efforts may be responsible for perpetuating racial segregation, the Fair Housing Justice Center (FHJC) says in a new report. The report, titled "Choice Constrained, Segregation Maintained: Using Federal Tax Credits to Provide Affordable Housing," centers on an analysis of ten years of data on affordable housing developed under the federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program. The center obtained data from three tax credit allocation agencies in New York.

Led by multifamily activity, new housing permits and starts rose in July with new construction, continuing a shift from single-family homes.

NAHB's 55+ Housing Market Index (HMI)--a measure of builder confidence in that particular market sector--increased 24 points over the same period last year.

Commercial and multifamily mortgage debt outstanding decreased for the first time in five quarters during the first quarter of this year, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).

The last time both prices and sales of new homes increased in the same month was last September. What of course is missing from the two data sets is any indication of demand.

In sharp contrast to reports of improving builder confidence, housing starts plunged at the steepest rate in more than two years in April.