Multifamily

The company purchased $1.1 trillion of single-family mortgages and $83 billion of multifamily loans during 2020.

Volumes should rise this year but it could become more difficult to get loans for certain property types, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

While loan performance is improving in aggregate, some borrowers remained unaware of the relief available or were unable to access it, according to the Research Institute for Housing America.

First Foundation is relocating its corporate headquarters to Dallas, where the tax burden is lighter and it sees more opportunity to beef up lending, add wealth management clients and pursue acquisitions of community banks.

The yet-to-be-named platform is acquiring the assets and liabilities of Barings Multifamily Capital LLC, pending approvals from federal government-sponsored enterprises.

The company is exploring a range of options to diversify its balance sheet, but new CEO Thomas Cangemi says the best plan of attack is to merge with or acquire another institution.

The Biden administration could encourage the FHFA to increase the caps or restore exclusions for certain types of loans, which would boost overall volumes.

Fitch and Trepp reported that overall commercial mortgage-backed security delinquencies were down, while the MBA reported a slight increase.

The multifamily lender named Michael Levine as board chairman, succeeding Dominick Ciampa, who held the role for 10 years. The move comes less than a week after longtime CEO Joseph Ficalora abruptly retired and was replaced by Thomas Cangemi.

The recent stimulus law’s relief for renters and extension of the federal eviction ban were meant to ward off a housing crisis. But owners of 1- to 4-unit dwellings still face mounting mortgage and property tax debts, and delinquencies could start rising soon — followed by foreclosures.