Washington, D.C. – The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today announced that it has made an additional increase to the 2016 multifamily lending caps for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises), raising the caps from $35 billion to $36.5 billion for each Enterprise, effective immediately.  The adjustment is consistent with FHFA’s 2016 Scorecard for the Enterprises in which FHFA committed to review the estimates for the size of the multifamily finance market each quarter and increase the caps, if warranted.  The adjustment is based on increased estimates of the overall size of the 2016 multifamily finance market.  As described in the Scorecard, loans in certain affordable and underserved market segments will continue to be excluded from the purchase caps.  

The multifamily lending caps are intended to further FHFA’s strategic goal of maintaining the presence of the Enterprises as a backstop for the multifamily finance market, while not impeding the participation of private capital.  The 2016 multifamily finance market is larger than had been estimated due to continued high levels of property acquisitions and deliveries of newly constructed apartment units as well as record levels of loan maturities that require refinancing.