Approximately $246.2 billion in funding was issued for apartments consisting of five units or more, the trade group's annual report said. The total represented a 48.7% decline from 2022, which had transaction volume of $480.1 billion.
But more lenders participated in the market in 2023, 2,520 different entities, compared with one year earlier at 2,242.
About half, or 51%, of active lenders issued five loans or fewer in 2023, MBA said.
"Multifamily lending fell by roughly half in 2023 as sales transactions declined and far fewer property owners sought to refinance their loans," said Jamie Woodwell, MBA's head of commercial real estate research, in a press release.
"The analysis shows that even with the drop in activity, the multifamily lending market remains broad and deep," he added. Last year's participants originated more than 36,000 loans backed by properties with values from tens of thousands to hundreds of million of dollars, MBA said.
Multifamily mortgages originated in 2023 went to a variety of investors. The largest share, comprising 42% of the total amount, ended up in the hands of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Certain banks, including
Meanwhile, the top five multifamily lenders last year on dollar volume were Berkadia, Walker & Dunlop, JP Morgan Chase & Co, CBRE and Greystone.
Similar to the residential loan market, the jump in interest rates to decades-long highs, as well as the rapid surge in inflation, played a role in the multifamily pullback. By comparison, in 2022, the lenders saw lower rates and found itself in the tailwinds of a
Last year's activity showed early signs of a significant decline, due not only to decreasing interest from borrowers, but also tightened underwriting standards from banks, Woodwell previously noted.
New multifamily-construction starts also began steadily trailing off in mid 2023,
An
A recent decline in mortgage rates — and with more likely to follow if,
A short-lived fall in interest rates to start 2024