There’s no shortage in demand for New Markets Tax Credits (NMTCs) this year as 249 applications were submitted under the 2009 allocation round.
The applicants requested $22.5 billion in NMTC authority, about 4.5 times the $5 billion of allocation authority available, including $1.5 billion authorized under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009.
“It continues to show a tremendous demand for the credit,” said Gary Perlow, a principal in the Baltimore office of the Reznick Group, an accounting and business advisory firm that works with the community development and real estate industries.
The NMTC is one of the few programs making commercial real estate loans these days, noted Perlow.
The application deadline was April 8. The Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund expects to announce the recipients of the program’s seventh round in October.
"I am pleased to see that the NMTC program continues to be in high demand even with the recent constraints on capital and credit," said CDFI Fund Director Donna J. Gambrell in a statement. "The equity being raised through the program and the impact of the resulting investments in low-income communities are a testament to the innovative success of the NMTC."
In addition to the $1.5 billion in NMTC authority for 2009, the ARRA authorized an additional $1.5 billion for 2008. However, only the applicants who applied last year are eligible for the additional 2008 funding.
Perlow said he anticipates those additional 2008 awards to be announced in the next several weeks.
For more information, visit www.cdfifund.gov.
