Multifamily lending rebounds 32% as rate calm returns

Multifamily mortgage volume rose to $381.8 billion in 2025, a 32% gain from the prior year, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's annual multifamily lending report. The trade group counted 2,530 lenders originating loans on apartment properties with five or more units.

The breadth is the first thing to notice. A 32% increase distributed across 2,530 active lenders is not a rebound carried by a few national shops. Reggie Booker, the MBA's associate VP of commercial research, put the cause plainly: 'Greater rate stability and clearer pricing expectations helped bring borrowers and lenders back to the market, supporting increased refinancing and acquisition activity throughout the year.'

Connect CRE carried the trade group's findings. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac accounted for 40% of dollar volume, and the top-five lender list by volume — JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Walker & Dunlop, Berkadia, CBRE — shows bank balance sheets and mortgage-banking platforms doing the origination.

The concentration at the top is what private-market investors should weigh. Agency execution is the reference line for multifamily debt; bridge, mezzanine and transitional lenders quote against it. With the agencies at 40% of volume, stabilized multifamily remains a commodity product with aggressive pricing. Private capital earns its spread on complexity — repositioning, lease-up, construction — where agency guidelines don't reach.

Booker's explanation points to refinancings and acquisitions as twin drivers. The two often move together when rate expectations settle, because refinancing math is predictable and acquisition underwriting has a credible exit spread.

That is what 'clearer pricing expectations' means in practice. Deals do not close on Treasury levels; they close on the spread between what a borrower expects to pay and what a lender will post. When that gap stops moving, pipelines reopen. The 2025 number is what a backlog release looks like.

The outside case is a repeat of 2024. If rate volatility returns, refinancing volume thins and acquisition underwriting turns defensive. The agencies, with 40% of the book, absorb the shock first; private lenders work a narrower slice from wider bases. Sponsors should underwrite that scenario even while the current calm holds.

For RIAs with multifamily debt exposure, the report is a useful snapshot, no more. A one-year rebound is not a trend, and the 32% gain is benchmarked against a weak prior year. What matters is whether the spread stays stable into 2026.