Freddie Mac purchased $70 billion in multifamily loans in 2021, reaching its Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) volume cap for the year. In addition, the government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) made $674 million in low-income housing tax credit equity investments, bringing its total multifamily housing support to $70.7 billion for the year.
The GSE financed approximately 650,000 rental units, of which 95% are affordable to households earning at or below 120% of the area median income (AMI). It also exceeded its affordable housing goals for 2021, with 26% of production volume supporting units affordable at 60% of the AMI and approximately 57% of its volume qualifying as mission-driven—beyond its 50% target.
“Freddie Mac Multifamily had an outstanding year, exceeding all our mission-driven benchmarks and providing liquidity throughout the multifamily markets in 2021,” said Richard Martinez, senior vice president for production and sales at Freddie Mac. “We have our great network of Optigo lenders to thank and look forward to continued work together in the year ahead.”
Freddie Mac Multifamily’s highlights for 2021 include:
- Targeted Affordable Housing Loans: $9.6 billion;
- Small Balance Loans: More than $5.9 billion; and
- Seniors Housing Loans: $2 billion.
Berkadia topped the list of Freddie Mac Optigo lenders for volume in 2021, followed by CBRE, JLL, Walker & Dunlop, and Capital One. Newmark, KeyBank, Wells Fargo, Greystone, and PGIM Real Estate rounded out the top 10. Berkadia also topped the list of Targeted Affordable Housing lenders, followed by CBRE, JLL, KeyBank, and Wells Fargo.
In addition, the GSE securitized a record $80.6 billion through its risk-transfer offerings, including K- and SB-Deals, last year.
“Beyond issuance volume, Freddie Mac Multifamily continued to optimize and innovate in 2021 with the introduction of our ‘when-issued’ K-Deals, more PC volume, and further use of our backend risk-transfer technologies,” said Robert Koontz, senior vice president of multifamily capital markets. “Underscoring the success of the program and overall confidence in our multifamily business, we continued to see record-tight spreads throughout the year. We have our committed investor base to thank for yet another great year, and we look forward to further innovations that will support their unique and varied needs in the year ahead.”
For 2022, the FHFA has set the multifamily loan caps for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac at $78 billion. The caps include the 50% mission-driven requirement, but the support for units affordable at 60% of the AMI has increased from 20% of volume in 2021 to 25% this year.
