Walker & Dunlop announced that it originated $557 million in affordable housing loans in 2015, primarily through programs of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Howard W. Smith

From 2010 to 2015, Walker & Dunlop’s affordable loan originations grew at a compound annual rate of 57%, reflecting an increased focus on this product in recent years, said firm executives.

“The Federal Housing Finance Agency has made affordable housing a key component of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s 2016 scorecard by allowing them to purchase an unlimited volume of affordable loans,” said Howard W. Smith, Walker & Dunlop president, in a statement, adding that the government-sponsored enterprises are prioritizing these transactions and introducing new, more flexible financing tools to accommodate affordable housing borrowers.

The company was ranked the No. 3 Fannie Mae Delegated Underwriting and Servicing producer of affordable housing for 2015 behind Jones Lang LaSalle Multifamily and Wells Fargo Multifamily Capital.

In a recent affordable housing transaction, Walker & Dunlop provided a $22 million construction loan under HUD’s 221(d)(4) program coupled with short-term tax-exempt bonds to Atlantic Housing Foundation for The Waters at Magnolia Bay, a mixed-income community in Lincolnville, S.C.

The property will feature 300 one-, two-, and three-bedroom garden-style apartments with 80% of the units being rent and income restricted through the low-income housing tax credit program. The Waters at Magnolia Bay will serve families earning no more than 50% and 60% of the area median income.

In another deal, Walker & Dunlop recently closed a $7.7 million loan for Glen Oak Towers, a high-rise building catering to senior residents in Peoria, Ill.

The transaction enabled the borrower, Scott Canel & Associates, to acquire and rehabilitate the Sec. 8 property using the Sec. 223(f) program under tax credit pilot, thus avoiding the higher costs and rates of 221(d)(4).

Glen Oak Towers was the first transaction to convert a Moderate Rehabilitation Sec. 8 contract to a project-based rental assistance contract under the Rental Assistance Demonstration program, according to Walker & Dunlop.