Fannie Mae is a government-sponsored entity that supplies multifamily loans through its various lending programs. These programs provide long term financing at low rates for multifamily properties such as 5+ unit apartment buildings, affordable housing, student housing, senior housing, military housing, cooperatives, and mobile home parks. All Fannie Mae loan programs feature non-recourse financing with standard "bad boy" carve-outs. Interest rates for Fannie Mae multifamily loans vary based on the location, leverage, loan term, selected prepayment penalty options, and other factors.
While Fannie Mae is able in many cases to offer the best loan terms in the market, it is not easy to qualify for Fannie loan programs. These loan programs require an experienced commercial real estate borrower with a strong financial statement and property. In addition, securing these loans requires the borrower to provide a significant amount of documentation that will take time to review. There are a number of other loan programs available to borrowers that do not meet the eligibility requirements for Fannie Mae financing.
Fannie Mae loans can only be obtained from specially licensed private lenders in the DUS (Designated Underwriting and Servicing) program. These lending partners underwrite and service the loans based on guidelines set by Fannie Mae. Your StackSource Capital Advisor can help determine whether a Fannie Mae multifamily loan would be a good fit for your property and connect you with designated partners in the StackSource lender network.
Start Your Loan RequestFannie Mae's standard multifamily loan program offers loans for market-rate multifamily properties with a loan size of $3 million and up. This program is commonly used by both individual and institutional investors to finance their multifamily assets because of the favorable rates and terms available. Borrowers should use this program when they do not qualify for one of the more specific programs based on a high concentration of tenants (such as Student Housing).
One of the most popular loan program is the multifamily Small Loans program for loans from $750,000 to $5 Million. This program offers flexible terms and reduced documentation requirements.
This program is available for stabilized multifamily real estate designated as affordable housing based on regulatory rent or income restrictions. While similar to the conventional loan program, the minimum loan size is reduced to $1 million for this program.
Properties with a minimum of 80% of units leased to students in undergraduate or graduate programs qualify for Fannie Mae's student housing loan program. This program is available for loans over $1 million with terms up to 30 years.
Existing stabilized multifamily properties purpose-built as Seniors Housing can qualify for this program including properties that provide Independent Living, Assisted Living, and Alzheimer’s/Dementia Care. Minimum DSCR varies based on which the type of property (1.30x for Independent Living, 1.40% for Assisted Living, and 1.45x for Alzheimer’s/Dementia Care). Learn more about Fannie Mae Senior Housing.
Fannie Mae offers $1+ million loans for multifamily properties with over 20% military tenants or in markets heavily influenced by a military base.
Financing is available for cooperatives where residents collectively own the building(s).
Fannie Mae provides financing for manufactured housing parks with 50+ sites.
GSE stands for “Government Sponsored Entity”, and in this beginner’s guide we’re going to cover the two most important players, who you’ve sure to have heard of: Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac.
So the Fed raised rates again, with more increases expected this and next year. So what? They are still at historical lows, and it’s not a bad time to put debt on a multifamily investment property.
Agency debt for multifamily properties is awesome. It’s non-recourse, offers long-term fixed rates, and features competitive rates. The agencies (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) don’t lend direct, but they both license a set of direct lenders to offer their products according to standardized underwriting, and then take the loans and securitize them on the back end.