Commercial mortgage banker Walker & Dunlop, Bethesda, Md., funded $4 billion of new loans in 2011, a 27% gain from the year prior, according to newly reported figures.
A multifamily specialist, roughly $2.6 billion of its mortgages were sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Its business with Freddie increased by almost 60% year over year.
But Walker & Dunlop saw its Government National Mortgage Association/FHA production fall 17% to $616 million.
The publicly traded company, which has been around since 1937, recently hired Keith Melton as vice president in charge of FHA Finance, working out of the firm's Nashville office.
Melton will focus on multifamily and healthcare mortgages that are backed by the Federal Housing Administration.
Prior to joining Walker, he was an FHA originator at Deutsche Bank Berkshire Mortgage. Back in the fall Ranieri Real Estate Partners and private equity funds affiliated with WL Ross & Co. agreed to acquire DB Berkshire Mortgage.
