In his latest Arbor Realty Trust video, Dr. Sam Chandan, a leading commercial real estate scholar, shares his insights into the findings of our latest Top Markets for Multifamily Investment Report, developed in partnership with Chandan Economics. The noted NYU professor outlines the market-level results of the Arbor-Chandan Opportunity Matrix, which spotlights multifamily markets that offer optimal value to commercial real estate investors.
Generation Z’s potential for household formation could soon reshape many U.S. metropolitan areas. From McAllen, TX, to Hartford, CT, explore the top multifamily markets where rental demand is set to rise as Gen Z leaves the nest.
Indianapolis ranked as the top multifamily investment market in the U.S., in the latest Top Markets for Multifamily Investment Report from Arbor Realty Trust and @Chandan Economics. The market has been supported by strong labor market conditions, tight occupancy levels, and a favorable affordability profile.
Arbor Realty Trust colleagues mentored more than 50 students this spring during two Project Destined programs designed to provide young professionals with insight into the inner workings of commercial real estate.
The latest Single-Family Rental Investment Trends Report from Arbor Realty Trust, developed in partnership with Chandan Economics, examines a commercial real estate sector that has proved to be both stable and resilient. Supported by strong occupancy, positive rent growth, and loosening capital markets, SFR remains firmly grounded on a path of steady growth.
The small multifamily sector entered 2026 on a strong note, even as lending conditions remained shaped by persistently high interest rates and regulatory uncertainties.
As the single-family rental (SFR) sector has matured, build-to-rent (BTR) has become a key source of new supply. Purpose-built rental communities are absorbing demand from households seeking the space and privacy of single-family living without the financial or lifestyle commitments of homeownership. Newly released U.S. Census Bureau data show that while SFR/BTR construction continued to decline from its 2024 peak through year-end 2025, development activity remains elevated compared to historical norms.
In commercial real estate, long-term financial partnerships drive deals. At the recent Real Estate Pride Roundtable in New York City, CRE leaders shared how living openly with their LGBTQ+ identities has allowed them to lead with authenticity in the boardroom and in life. This Pride Month, Arbor celebrates authenticity in the workplace.
Arbor is committed to diversity and inclusion, employee satisfaction, and human rights. We also strive to develop safe and sustainable products and services.
Affordable housing and the extension of financing to customers investing in affordable housing is not a new concept for Arbor. In fact, Arbor has, for more than two decades, funded affordable loans and has the expertise required to execute across a variety of lending platforms and programs. Arbor was also an early and active participant in our agency partners,’ Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, “green” lending programs, which require willing borrowers to make improvements to their properties that help reduce energy and water consumption and lower utility costs to tenants. Furthermore, Arbor has made a commitment to educating its employees and engaging with its clients to make known the newly revamped “green” lending programs offered by our agency partners.
In addition to our mission-driven business, we also support affordable housing by lending on multifamily assets available to renters with very low incomes, defined as units lent to renters with income at lower than 50% of the area median Income (AMI). In 2024, over 14.65% of the units we financed fit that criterion.
In 2024, our Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA)-defined mission-driven funding was 82.95% of our agency volume, up from 70% in 2021, making us a leader compared to our peers and all other agency lenders.
Our people remain at the core of who we are and how we define ourselves, and so we are proud to have partnered with two organizations to actively support the recruitment, development, and retention of diverse professionals across our organization.
Arbor has continued to grow its partnership with Project Destined (“PD”), a real estate finance-focused internship program, providing minority college students with the ability to gain and fine tune technical, financial and leadership skills and which, as a by-product, gives us the opportunity to source additional diverse talent. Six talented Arbor employees, representing several different areas of our business, represented Arbor as mentors from 2022-2024.
Arbor, Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP, and Project Destined partnered to host educational sessions led by Project Destined as well as three virtual panel sessions focused on exploring the role of women in real estate finance. Following these educational sessions, participants attended an in-person panel that offered interactive networking and breakout sessions to home in on the soft skills highlighted during the prior sessions.
Additionally, Arbor continues to participate with Future Housing Leaders (“FHL”), which is a Fannie Mae-led recruiting service that helps companies create a more diverse workforce through intentional sourcing and recruiting.
We look forward to nurturing and evolving these partnerships over time, helping to shape future leaders from a variety of backgrounds with the active participation of our existing employees and the support of management.
Arbor also encourages our employees to support industry-focused organizations and committees that are committed to creating, launching, and managing inclusive initiatives within our space. Such organizations include Commercial Real Estate Women Network (CREW) and the CRE Finance Council (CREFC) Women’s Network.
Arbor actively encourages its employees to support the communities in which we live and operate. Each year, Arbor and its employees support local food banks, clothing drives, hospitals and medical research, and community-based organizations focused on the welfare of families and children.
As part of Arbor’s support of volunteerism and philanthropy amongst our employees, Arbor introduced a series of volunteer activities across its offices in 2023. Further, we continue to proudly support our clients and counterparties in their charitable efforts.
