Berkadia hosts 2017 Multifamily Summit at the Omni Parker House

Boston, MA Berkadia welcomed national and regional multifamily industry leaders for an insightful panel discussion examining the health of the market both locally and nationally. More than 100 real estate professionals attended the Berkadia 2017 Multifamily Summit held at the Omni Parker House.

The summit featured three sessions focused on varied segments of the market. The Life Company Lending panel comprised Jim Grant, managing director at Aegon, Jason Tessler, senior vice president at Voya, and Tom Mattinson, executive vice president and partner at Quadrant. The Developer panel included Rachel Edwards, vice president of acquisitions at WinnDevelopment, and Michael Boujoulian, managing director at Alliance. Finally, the Agency Lending panel included Hilary Provinse, senior vice president and head of multifamily customer engagement for Fannie Mae and incoming executive vice president and head of mortgage banking for Berkadia, and John Cannon, senior vice president of production and sales at Freddie Mac.

All panels were moderated by members of Berkadia, including Ryan Nelson, managing director, Gemma Geldmacher, senior director, and Frank Lutz, senior vice president.

“As a champion of big-picture thinking, Berkadia is proud to have assembled a highly experienced group of professionals for this candid discussion on the multifamily sector’s evolution and leading indicators for the future,” said Nelson. “Our goal in hosting this event was to provide a platform for insightful discussion and meaningful industry connections.”

A key theme discussed during Berkadia’s 2017 Multifamily Summit was the ongoing unmet demand for affordable multifamily housing both in the Greater Boston region and nationally. Panelists noted that demand for all rental housing is likely to increase, but will likely continue to experience a particular shortfall of affordable housing. While experts indicated some metros are experiencing softening in rents, panelists pointed to several ongoing positive market fundamentals causing a continued demand for multifamily product.

As affordable and workforce housing continues to be in limited supply nationally, experts noted the importance of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s role in providing competitive debt options to support these properties. Panelists also focused on current tax reform measures and its potential impact to the multifamily market, particularly in relation to resources available for affordable housing development.

“The biggest change we’ve seen is that yield buyers are now focusing on the affordable space and have the ability to close much faster,” said Edwards of WinnDevelopment.

Overall, all panelists noted an ongoing strength in the sector, with Cannon of Freddie Mac concluding that, “At the end of the day we are under-housed. We are looking for dark clouds in the multifamily business, but we don’t see any signs in the foreseeable future.”

Berkadia, a joint venture of Berkshire Hathaway and Leucadia National Corporation, is a leader in the commercial real estate industry, offering a robust suite of services to our multifamily and commercial property clients.  Through our integrated mortgage banking, investment sales and servicing platform, Berkadia delivers comprehensive real estate solutions for the entire life cycle of our client’s assets.