Fannie Puts $10 Billion in Multifamily Market

Fannie Mae provided $10.1 billion in debt financing for the multifamily rental housing market through its lender and housing partners in the first half of 2009. At a press conference held Monday in Washington, Fannie's vice president of multifamily production Heidi McKibben said that, of the $10.1 billion in debt financing the government sponsored enterprise provided, $9.9 billion of the company's total investment in multifamily housing were delivered. All of the business delivered by this group utilized the company's delegated underwriting and servicing platform, which provides liquidity to multifamily housing projects. "Fannie Mae and its DUS lenders had a very strong first half of the year," said Phil Weber, senior vice president of Fannie's multifamily division, adding that reinvigorating its mortgage-backed securities business and broadening the investor base was Fannie Mae multifamily's top priority in 2009. According to the GSE, 71% of total production in the first half of 2009 was an MBS execution, compared to 17% in the first half of 2008.