Study of Multifamily Underwriting and the GSEs’ Role in the Multifamily Market (August 2001, 184 p.)
In the 1992 legislation Congress assigned to the Department of Housing and Urban
Development two important regulatory roles that bear on Fannie Mae’s and Freddie
Mac’s activities in the secondary multifamily market, related to the magnitude of their
purchases of mortgages for lower-income households and their conformance to fair
lending standards. The Department is required to establish numerical affordable housing
goals for the two enterprises and periodically to review and comment on the underwriting
and appraisal guidelines of each enterprise to ensure their consistency with fair lending
laws.
This report supports the Department’s fulfillment of both of these statutory mandates. It
provides an analysis of credit availability for affordable multifamily properties, credit
gaps in segments of the market, and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s position in the
market. In addition, it discusses the applicability of fair lending laws to the multifamily
activities of the two enterprises, and it makes recommendations for the Department’s
regulatory approach. It should be of value to policy-makers, researchers, financial
institutions, and members of the general public interested in multifamily housing finance
and the role of the Government-sponsored housing enterprises.
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