Continually challenged by low inventory, affordable housing sits at a crossroads following the 2024 election. Incoming leadership plans to introduce market-based principles to an agenda that may also include an expanded Housing Choice Voucher program.
A loan closing is only the beginning of the borrower-lender relationship. Partnering with a lifecycle lender that also services its loans gives borrowers continuity from origination through servicing. Throughout the life of the loan, borrowers can benefit from in-house commercial loan servicers’ tailored solutions and superior customer service, which are hallmarks of a strong long-term partnership.
Four in 10 renters in large multifamily apartment communities do not envision homeownership as a part of their American Dream, a survey by Entrata recently found. Instead, lifestyle renters opt for newly constructed, high-quality rental housing with many of the typical amenities of homeownership without its traditional downsides.
The structural strengths of the single-family rentals sector far outweigh cyclical headwinds as it remains well-positioned to build on its momentum in 2025 and beyond.
Multifamily households reached a new high for the third consecutive year in 2023, extending a growth spurt that began after the 2008 housing crisis. With strong tailwinds at its back, multifamily’s latest record may not stand for very long.
The U.S. multifamily market held steady in a more normalized cycle during 2024, following the pandemic-related economic contraction and its rapid recovery. Rental demand remained strong, driven by the ongoing nationwide housing shortage and robust wage growth, as younger generations continued to embrace lifestyle renting.
Unless an 11th-hour agreement is reached, an impasse will trigger the first U.S. government shutdown since 2019. Starting December 21, 2024, many non-essential federal government operations will be limited or suspended, but most multifamily financing activities will not be disrupted.
With home prices nearing all-time highs, single-family rental (SFR) housing is uniquely positioned to capture an even larger slice of the for-sale market. As structured capital markets rebound, SFR will benefit from a set of tailwinds that include robust levels of new construction and favorable trends in cap rates and debt yields. Arbor’s Single-Family Rental Investment Trends Report, developed in partnership with Chandan Economics, shows why this sector’s prospects are so strong.
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.
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 in PD’s Summer 2022 and Spring 2023 sessions and looks forward to another great year of partnership in 2024 and beyond.
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 its employees to support industry-focused organizations and committees that are committed to creating, launching, and managing DEI initiatives within our space. Such organizations include Commercial Real Estate Women Network (CREW) and the CRE Finance Council (CREFC) Women’s Network.
We plan to continue developing initiatives and supporting organizations that ultimately further espouse our DEI goals and values.
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, and 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.
