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).
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.