Multifamily Mortgage Lending Declined 49% in 2023

Washington, DC, August 21, 2024-In 2023, 2,520 different multifamily lenders provided a total of $246.2 billion in new mortgages for apartment buildings with five or more units, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) annual report of the multifamily lending market.

Last year’s $246.2 billion in multifamily lending volume represents a 49% decrease from 2022 levels. Fifty-one percent of the active lenders made five or fewer multifamily loans over the course of the year.

“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. “The analysis shows that even with the drop-in activity, the multifamily lending market remains broad and deep, with more than 2,500 different lenders making more than 36,000 mortgage loans backed by multifamily properties in amounts ranging from tens of thousands of dollars to hundreds of millions.”