Walker & Dunlop hires Douglas Taylor to head multifamily finance

Multifamily lender Walker & Dunlop (WD) hired Douglas Taylor this week to serve as senior vice president of the multifamily finance division. In his new role, Taylor will work out of Walker & Dunlop’s Irvine, Calif.-based office spearheading multifamily loan originations that tap into Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Department of Housing and Urban Development financing. Taylor will head an especially active player in the mulitfamily space. Walker & Dunlop is riding a wave of financing success based primarily on its preferred lender status with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, mixed with strong rental demand and high levels of available liquidity. Taylor previously served Deutsche Bank Berkshire Mortgage, where he worked in multifamily and commercial loan origination. In the past 24 years, he has originated more than $2.5 billion in commercial loans, Walker & Dunlop said in a press release Friday. Walker & Dunlop hired Taylor to focus on origination efforts within the Los Angeles area. In its first-quarter report, Walker noted that revenue for the three months of the year fell to $29 million from $32.9 million, as loan origination volumes shifted downward. Write to Kerri Panchuk.