A great deal of activity is surfacing in the multifamily sector in the form of nonperforming loan sales this week.
Freddie Mac on Monday completed its first multifamily bulk loan sale.
The GSE announced that an affiliate of Colony Capital acquired 27 performing multifamily mortgages with a total unpaid principal balance of $195 million from Freddie.
The loans sold are tied to everything from multifamily properties to student housing and assisted-living facilities. The loan sale advisor on the transaction was Mission Capital Advisors.
"This transaction marks our first multifamily bulk loan sale. We were pleased with the strong investor demand as evidenced by the 23 bids on the loan portfolio," said Mike Lipson, senior vice president of multifamily asset management and operations for Freddie Mac.
Will Sledge, managing director for Mission, suggested the multifamily loan sale is further proof that the real estate recovery is in full swing.
Within the private sector, Auction.com, an online real estate marketplace, also announced it was selected to handle the sale of 447 performing multifamily loans with an unpaid principal balance of $601.3 million.
The Auction.com portfolio contains approximately 7.5% fixed-rate mortgages. Roughly 92% are floating-rate loans that have an average current balance of $1.3 million, a weighted average of 8.4 years and an average coupon of 4.8%, the company said.
The loans are backed by 465 multifamily properties, which feature a total of 18,465 units, located in 23 different states. About 60% of the properties are located in California, while another 11% are in Texas.
Auction.com is allowing potential buyers to bid on the entire portfolio or specific pools. Bids submitted online are due no later than Nov. 1, with the final auction on Dec. 5.
The multifamily sector continues to gain steam overall. HousingWire in late September published a report citing data from the Mortgage Bankers Association, which pointed to strong investor demand within the commercial/multifamily sector.
The level of commercial/multifamily mortgage debt outstanding increased by $24.5 billion in the second quarter, as three of the four major investor groups increased their holdings in this arena, the MBA said at the time.
