So far this year, things have been good and busy for Fannie Mae. While the first quarter started slowly, Q2 saw an uptick with about $4.7 billion, said Dewispelaere. “The third quarter is when the barn doors blew open for us at $9 billion, in part by a combination of Treasuries continuing to come down, pent-up demand wanting to grab at the multifamily space and more.”

For Freddie Mac, Q1 was also down from the prior year. “We started off slow in the first quarter, but saw the pick-up in the second quarter. The third quarter went crazy,” said Croul. “September was extremely strong. We did more in September than we did in the entire first quarter.”

Asked if there were any concerns about overheating in the multifamily sector, Croul noted that while there's strong development across all of the major markets, “it's really catering to pent-up demand. We have pent-up demand and supply has a long way to go before it catches up.” Any vacancy, he added, will be temporary. “Absorption levels are strong.” What Croul thinks could derail the sector is a lack of discipline in underwriting.

When talking about the West Coast markets specifically, Croul noted that the coast's volume accounts for almost 36% of the agency's national volume. “Our average loan size here is north of $20 million, whereas elsewhere in the country, it is closer to $15 million.”

Dewispelaere agreed, noting that some of the strongest gateway markets are on the West Coast. “For the last two or three years, it has been a huge source of business for us. The West Coast counts for about 40% of our overall book… We have seen a lot of activity and we will continue to see a lot.”

The business, he added, is even starting to even creep into the submarkets and inland to places like Las Vegas. Phoenix, too, has been going for some time. “We are bullish on the West Coast overall.”

In a subsequent panel, with lenders providing their take on Fannie and Freddie and where they see the capital stack headed in 2015, Laurie Morfin, director of Prudential Mortgage Capital Co., pointed out that for speedier transactions, you should go for Fannie. “The delegated model makes that process moving more smoothly,” she said.

Vic Clark, managing director of multifamily at Hunt Mortgage Group, added that both of the agencies are aggressive today and competing on every deal they can. “It is a great time to borrow money,” Clark said. “It is a great time to borrow from Freddie or Fannie…it is cheap money.”

Moderator Ed Zimbler, SVP of Berkadia, added that “both lenders' performance stories are unbelievable. If all government ran as well as those agencies, where would we be today?”