Multifamily Lending Declined 2022, The Mortgage Bankers Association Reports

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released on Tuesday (8-1-23) its annual report on the multifamily lending market for 2022. The report reveals that 2,242 different multifamily lenders provided a total of $480.1 billion in new mortgages for apartment buildings with five or more units.

Last year’s lending volume represents a 1% decline from 2021. Thirty-three percent of the active lenders made five or fewer multifamily loans over the course of the year. The $480.1 billion of multifamily mortgages originated in 2022 went to a variety of investors. By dollar volume, the greatest share, 42%, went to depositories.

The top five multifamily lenders in 2022 by dollar volume were: (1) JP Mogan Chase & Company, (2) Wells Fargo, (3) Walker & Dunlop, (4) Berkadia, and (5) Capital One Financial Corp.

Adding additional background to the report, MBA’s Head of Commercial Real Estate Research Jamie Woodwell said:

“Multifamily borrowing remained strong in 2022, largely as a result of lending by banks. Beginning in last year’s third quarter, rising and volatile interest rates, uncertainty about property values, and questions about some property fundamentals led to a fall off in borrowing and lending across commercial property types, including multifamily. Most capital sources saw a significant decline in lending activity in 2022, but bank activity increased by an almost equal amount. It’s unlikely that this momentum is occurring this year, given current evidence that banks have tightened underwriting standards and borrower demand has weakened.”