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Opportunity for Apartments Exists in GSE Bailout

The multifamily sector could reap some benefits in the government rescue of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

By Sule Aygoren Carranza | Updated on September 15, 2008

BOSTON-The government bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac most directly impacts the single-family housing and mortgage industry. However, multifamily also stands to benefit from the move, maintains Gleb Nechayev, a senior economist with CBRE Torto Wheaton Research.

The rescue by the Treasury of the mortgage giants will likely lessen the blow of the housing market crash and give a shot in the arm to skeptic investors. And so far, says Nechayev, things look good; interest rates on both single-family and multifamily mortgages are on the decline. Yet with an election looming and the Fed’s decision being so recent, the long-term impact is unclear. Whatever the outcome, the policymakers and strategists must keep multifamily in mind when implementing their plan, maintains the locally based executive.

Apartments comprise roughly 25% of all housing units in the US, as well as a quarter of all commercial/multifamily mortgage debt outstanding. Through their portfolios and mortgage pools, the GSEs account for 35% of the total multifamily debt outstanding, more than $300 billion. Comparatively speaking, the next-largest holders of multifamily debt, commercial banks and securitized issues, respectively hold 20% and 14% of all outstanding loans. Since the credit crunch sunk in last year, the share of multifamily financing that came from the GSEs has risen to about 70%. “In fact, availability of debt capital for institutional multi-housing investments through GSEs is one of the factors contributing to more favorable asset pricing in this sector as compared to commercial,” points out Nechayev. “Without the GSEs, multifamily cap rates would be higher than they are.”

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