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To keep pace with higher prices, the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced Wednesday that its 2022 multifamily loan purchase caps for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will rise to $78 billion for each of the government-sponsored enterprises. That is a combined total of $156 billion to support the multifamily market next year.
The 2022 caps, based on the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s projections for overall growth in the multifamily originations market, increased from $70 billion for each GSE in 2021.
The FHFA is placing a greater focus on affordable housing, underserved markets, and energy efficiency in its 2022 requirements. At least half of multifamily loans from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are required to be used for affordable housing. The FHFA also will require that at least 25% of the multifamily businesses be affordable to residents at or below 60% of an area’s median income.
“The increase of the multifamily loan purchase caps and higher mission-driven business requirements assure that the Enterprises’ (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) multifamily businesses have a strong and growing commitment to affordable housing finance, particularly for residents and communities that are the most difficult to serve,” says Sandra L. Thompson, the FHFA’s acting director.
The FHFA also said it would continue to monitor the impact of the pandemic on the multifamily mortgage market and update caps if needed. The agency said that it would not reduce caps if the 2022 market ends up being smaller than projected.