MULTIFAMILY INFLUENCER: Freddie Mac
For the year, Freddie Mac financed a record-setting $73.2 billion in multifamily loan purchases and guarantee volume, making it, for the third year in a row, the top multifamily financer in the US.
When 2017 came to a close, Freddie Mac revealed that its green initiative had done approximately $17 billion of loans for the year—exceeding the GSE’s expectations by a significant margin. It was a telling announcement for the GSE and executives were clearly proud of their achievement: the program had been somewhat slow to start and ramping up took a bit of time. But ramp up it did.
However, from the big-picture perspective, $17 billion was a drop in the bucket. For the year, Freddie Mac financed a record-setting $73.2 billion in multifamily loan purchases and guarantee volume, making it, for the third year in a row, the top multifamily financier in the US.
And yet, executives were clearly overjoyed by the green finance program’s accomplishments. It was their baby and the goals of the program were admirable and came with a proven track record of success.
That is Freddie Mac in a nutshell: A GSE that lends billions of dollars into the multifamily market, providing a liquidity source that is unparalleled with the private market, but still eager to innovate and get excited about its smaller programs.
In fact, 2017 was a year of growth for the GSE not just in volume but also in the breadth of the type of product that it launched and in many cases, went on to securitize. For example, it introduced a new execution for unsubsidized affordable housing, also known as naturally occurring affordable housing or NOAH. It was a departure from the GSE’s usual affordable programs, in that it was a private-sector execution that didn’t use federal subsidies or tax credits. This trend continues this year; recently Freddie Mac re-entered the Low Income Housing Tax Credit space with plans to close more than $400 million in deals in 2018 and its maximum of $500 million next year.
Another indication of its success has been the support of the capital markets for Freddie Mac’s offerings: it securitized $68 billion for 2017 across 80 separate deals, for a 30% increase over the previous year. To name one example, appetite has been strong for the paper from its small balance loan program, which it launched in 2015.
The bulk of its securitization activity, though, in its flagship K-Deals, which last year clocked in at $56 billion. For all its innovation, it is these K-Deals that give Freddie claim to the title of multifamily influencer. The capital it provides, along with its sister GSE Fannie Mae, inarguably has played a key role in the multifamily asset class’ long-term stability and performance. Indeed, imagining a multifamily world without Freddie and Fannie is not a pretty exercise. Without them, there would be a substantial drop in liquidity as the GSEs provide roughly 50% or more of financing for the asset class.
Freddie Mac’s multifamily team is headed by David Brickman, who was just named president of the entire GSE and will be transitioning to the broader role in January. Brickman is the internal candidate who was selected as a possible successor to CEO Donald H. Layton, who recently announced his decision to retire in the second half of 2019. Meanwhile, Deborah Jenkins, currently SVP of multifamily underwriting and credit, will be promoted to head the multifamily business as EVP, effective January 1, 2019.
Another change for the multifamily team was its recent restructuring. The investments and advisory and research and modeling operations were integrated into the multifamily capital markets department under SVP Robert Koontz. In this new role, he will oversee these areas, while continuing his core responsibilities of pricing, structuring, investor relations and sales and securitization.
Koontz joins John Cannon, SVP, production and sales, and Leanne Spies, SVP of asset management and operations, who are part of the multifamily leadership team. A number of vice presidents are also key members of Freddie Mac’s multifamily efforts. They include Kelli Carhart, Lauren Garren, Peter Giles and Rich Martinez, all in production and sales; Michael H. Patterson, Steve Lansbury and Ian Ouwerkerk in underwriting; Stephen Johnson, small balance loan business; David Leopold, targeted affordable sales and investments; Victor Pa, investments & advisory; Susan Mudry, strategy, marketing and offerings; and Alex Chang, risk distribution and credit.