Small MF Lending Continues To Outperform Residential

Daren Blomquist

IRVINE, CA–ATTOM Data Solutions reports that more than 1.9 million loans secured by residential property were originated in the fourth quarter of 2017 — down 20% from the previous quarter and down 19% from a year ago. Of the loans originated in the fourth quarter 818,158 were refinance loans, down 17% from the previous quarter and down 34% from a year ago.

The dataset ATTOM looked at included small multifamily properties that had between two to four units. But when SVP Daren Blomquist separated out these loans for GlobeSt.com, the picture suddenly changed: there was an increase of 8% in purchase originations of small multifamily loans in the fourth quarter compared to a year ago. Refis also fared poorly wth in the small multifamily category although the drop wasn’t as sharp: there was a 26% decline year over year.