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After 73 years as a family business, Walker & Dunlop is entering the public markets and is now trading under the ticker symbol "WD."
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Apartment Finance Today recently sat down with Freddie Mac's Mike May to get his perspective on the competitive landscape, both against chief rival Fannie Mae and the private sector, as well as the company's plans for 2011.
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The banking sector is growing more competitive in the small loan market, as balance-sheet lenders like Chase and Sovereign start to give Fannie Mae lenders a run for thier money.
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All-in rates on 10-year loans from the GSEs have risen 60 to 70 basis points in the past six weeks, which will likely have a big impact on cap rates, and the acquisition market in general, heading into 2011.
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The GSEs are beginning to hear footsteps at their back as insurance companies re-engage the market with higher leverage levels and improved pricing.
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Berkadia and Walker & Dunlop recently opened their CMBS platforms, KeyBank and Marcus & Millichap closed their first CMBS loans in ages, plus several encouraging signs are gathering for the sector.
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As fundamentals continue to improve in many markets, more lenders are slowly starting to grow comfortable with the idea of underwriting rent growth.
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The Community Reinvestment Act hasn't changed much since it passed in 1977. But the evolution of the banking industry has exposed some flaws in the way CRA is administered.
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Chris Tawa, a senior advisor in HUD's office of multifamily housing programs, looked back on the changes he's helped to enact while giving a preview of what borrowers can expect to see out of the FHA in 2011.
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Banks and life insurance companies are increasingly muscling in on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as private sector lending activity accelerates.
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Access to debt and equity for affordable housing developments improved a little bit more each month this year. And that slow momentum is expected to continue, as interest rates on permanent debt remain low, access to construction debt slowly improves, and the New Issue Bond Program (NIBP) continues...
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A Republican majority in the House of Representatives would have a big impact on not only the content but also the timing of future housing finance legislation.
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CB Richard Ellis Investors has emerged as one of the top multifamily buyers this year, behind only Behringer Harvard and Equity Residential, and recently closed its largest deal, a $193.5 acquisition of a South Florida community. Apartment Finance Today recently sat down with Managing Director...
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Momentum is gathering in Congress for the creation of a market for covered bonds, a $3 trillion business in Europe.
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Many multifamily buyers and sellers have been surprised at just how quickly, and steeply, cap rates have fallen this year. But is this cap rate compression sustainable?
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The GSEs are processing deals hand-over-fist, but Fannie Mae currently has the quicker execution. So Freddie Mac is working on several short- and long-term fixes to help speed up its deal cycle timeline.
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While Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continue to win the lion's share of multifamily business, other capital sources are growing more competitive. Life insurance companies and banks are stepping up to the plate again for certain assets and executions, and even conduit lenders are pricing more...
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With the banking sector continuing to lick its wounds and slowly return to health, more distressed multifamily assets are expected to hit the streets next year.
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The bridge loan market is starting to heat up as lenders grow more comfortable with financing transitional assets.
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Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Housing Administration will prioritize preservation deals in 2011 to capture a wave of expiring Sec. 8 and tax-credit properties.
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In a wide-ranging interview, Michael Berman, president and CEO of CWCapital, discusses his company's acquisition by Fortress Investment Group, the state of the multifamily market, and his work in helping to shape our nation's future housing finance system as chairman-elect of the Mortgage Bankers...
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The acquisition market in some high-barrier metros has grown so heated that in many cases it's now more cost-effective to build.
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Nearly 62 percent of multifamily investors and developers anticipate more distressed acquisition opportunities in 2011, according to an exclusive survey of nearly 200 senior-level multifamily finance professionals.
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Throughout the recession, many multifamily builders diversified to survive, positioning themselves for long-term stability.
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The Real Estate Jobs and Investment Act, which seeks to raise the amount a foreign entity can invest in REITs, recently passed the House and is awaiting consideration in the Senate.
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Underwriting a distressed note purchase is nothing like underwriting a conventional deal. Understanding bankruptcy and foreclosure laws are paramount, but the toughest thing of all may be determing the borrower's motives.
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Freddie Mac is transitioning its Targeted Affordable Housing program so that it can offer borrowers the option of using the Capital Markets Execution, which means lower rates on some affordable housing deals.
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Some of the FHA's multifamily programs haven't seen changes in more than 40 years. So, in announcing new leverage and debt service levels, the FHA took the opportunity to enact a slew of other changes, and propose a few more.
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Since the volume of acquisition opportunities never materialized as many investors had hoped, all of that pent-up equity on the sidelines is beginning to view new construction as a more attractive option.
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While construction debt is much more limited now, construction costs have come down so much that deals are penciling out again.
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A dearth of quality assets is fueling cap rate compression in many major markets as frustrated investors line up to bid on the cream of the crop.
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National and regional banks are slowly starting to provide construction debt again, but they're only opening the balance sheet to those with whom they have an existing or potential long-term relationship.
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Fannie Mae's small laon program recently loosened some underwriting criteria and is offering standard 10-year deals at around 5.75 percent, and seven-year pricing is in the mid-5 percent range. But it's on shorter-term loans where banks are undercutting Fannie Mae.
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The acquisition market has been gathering steam in the second quarter, with cap rates declining nationally and the gap between buyers and sellers narrowing. The bidding on high-quality assets has become so frenzied that many long-term holders are beginning to wonder if now is a good time to sell...
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Pricing on conduit loans has dropped more than 100 basis points in the last three months, as originators re-open and investor interest begins to offer the beleaguered industry some clarity.
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With the fatality rate of new Sec. 221(d)(4) loans hovering at about 50 percent, you have to manage your expectations for the loan process. Here are some tips from FHA lenders on how to position your deal for approval.
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Borrower scrutiny is at an all-time high at the government-sponsored enterprises, even as credit conditions begin to loosen up.
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Credit parameters are loosening at the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac tweak their underwriting to reflect growing confidence in the economy.
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Wells Fargo, the multifamily industry's largest lender, rejuvenates its bridge loan program, tying it to the company's agency permanent loan executions.
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Red Capital Group has come back to its roots as an entrepreneurial firm after being acquired by an investment group led by ORIX USA Corp. and Stonehenge Partners.
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What will the next generation of housing finance entities look like, and how will they serve the affordable housing arena? A few areas of common ground are beginning to emerge.
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While the changes to the FHA's Sec. 221(d)(4) new construction program are aimed at market-rate deals, mixed-income and workforce housing developments will also be impacted.
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The bridge loan market is starting to heat up, as providers see more opportunity in lending to transitional assets and distress acquisitions.
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While the transaction market is slowly starting to pick up, multifamily financiers continue to struggle to define value and get a handle on the strength of local markets.
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"The mood on Capitol Hill is one of tension, and sometimes bordering on hysteria, about the GSEs," said Doug Bibby, president of the National Multi Housing Council, as he kicked off "The Government, the GSEs, and the Future," a keynote session at the 2010 Apartment Finance Today Conference.
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The multifamily industry is at an inflection point, as cautious optimism based on improving fundamentals clashes with some sobering challenges, according to a leadership roundtable discussion that kicked off the 2010 Apartment Finance Today Conference earlier this week.
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Call it cautious optimism. Unclear but not dire. Choppy. Mixed. Whatever you call it, the economic outlook is, at best, uncertain. So concluded a panel of powerhouse economists at the 2010 Apartment Finance Today Conference in Fort Lauderdale yesterday.
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Tom Bozzuto, the chairman of Greenbelt, Md.-based The Bozzuto Group, is also a real estate veteran, with 40 years of experience under his belt. So the recession survival guide he offered a group of apartment finance professionals this week at the 2010 Apartment Finance Today Conference in Fort...
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Life insurance companies have stepped back into the multifamily arena, closing the pricing gap with the government-sponsored enterprises.
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The future of HUD’s Sec. 202 initiative is in doubt, as the 61-year old program suffers budget cuts and a proposed moratorium on new construction.
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The CMBS delinquency rate for the apartment sector has reached 9 percent, and will likely soon balloon another 400 basis points.
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Freddie Mac has no plans to sell its low income housing tax credit portfolio, and will spend the year focused on preservation deals as it struggles to lower the rates on forward commitments.
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Life insurance companies, commercial banks, mortgage REITs and even conduit lenders are providing some healthy competition to the government-sponsored enterprises.
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Foreign investors are planning to increase their investments in U.S. apartments this year, building on their activity in 2009.
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This year's conference, held April 12-14, will focus on recession survival strategies, the distressed asset marketplace, and agency lending.
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The mezzanine financing market is heating up in the first quarter of 2010, with all-in rates dropping and more lenders re-emerging from the shadows.
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The proposed underwriting changes to the FHA's Sec. 221(d)(4) program are necessary to ensure the long-term viability of the program, says U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan.
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Several conduit lenders, including JPMorgan Chase, Deutsche Bank, and Goldman Sachs are cautiously re-opening their CMBS platforms, even as the market struggles with record-breaking delinquency rates.
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Some developers are surviving, and even thriving, in today's market by re-engineering thier business plans and turning thier focus to recession-resistant sectors such as the receivership business, student housing, and historic renovations. The overriding trend is to diversify.
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The FHA has become the most prolific and popular construction debt source since the advent of the credit crunch. But the agency has unveiled proposed changes to its Sec. 221(d)(4) and Sec. 223(f) programs which could make it much harder for developers to gain access to those programs, according to...
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The Treasury Department has given the GSEs increased flexibility in reducing the size of thier portfolios. But will that announcement change the way Fannie and Freddie approach thier business?
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The GSEs released thier 2009 volume numbers, and the steep declines in production mirror an industry that continues to bounce around the bottom. Still, the figures indicate what strategies each GSE will employ in 2010.
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Bank of America claims the leadership position on Affordable Housing Finance's exclusive Top Lenders survey, leaping over Citi Community Capital for the first time in our third annual installment. In all, 2009 was an extremely challenging year, as nine of the top 10 lenders saw declines due to the...
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Affordable housing owners looking to purchase property management software face many different and difficult choices. Here are five tips that every affordable housing manager should keep in mind when assessing the market.
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The Community Preservation Corp. has partnered with IBM on a new construction loan program that should help borrowers get thier money more quickly. The companies are planning to bring the software to market with the hope that the software will make it more feasible for more lenders to offer...
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Fewer units are coming online these days, but one development newcomer in Southern California is determined to defy the odds. The 27-year-old just completed his first mixed-use deal and has begun work on a second.
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Many of the affordable housing industry's largest lenders struggled through 2009 with significant declines in originations. But some smaller, more nimble organizations actually saw increases last year, mainly due to an increase in refinancing volume.
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As the tax-credit exchange program continues to gather steam, many developers find that the biggest impediment to breaking ground is finding the debt.
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If you thought the multifamily industry bottomed out in 2009, hold on to your hats. The murky depths of the Great Recession are still to come, according to recent forecasts.
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The rising yield on the 10-year Treasury note has sent debt prices from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac above the 6 percent mark.