WASHINGTON, DC-For various reasons, including SEC regulations, Mike McRoberts, Freddie Mac's national head of sales, can’t discuss the Standard & Poor’s downgrade of US credit and its subsequent downgrade of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Nor, for that matter, can he discuss current plans the Obama Administration and Congress may or may not have for the privatization of the GSEs. Still, though, a chat with McRoberts proved to be very insightful regarding Freddie Mac’s current trajectory and what it means for multifamily.

GlobeSt.com: I know you can’t speak to the downgrade specifically but can you discuss what is happening in the multifamily finance market since?

McRoberts: Two weeks ago, actually before US debt got downgraded, there was turbulence in CMBS market because S&P had problems with the Goldman Sachs-Citigroup transaction. That was the precursor to what happened after the downgrade with the turbulence in the equity market: the cost of capital widened, spreads widened. So multifamily, in some respects, was prepared for the downgrade.

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GlobeSt.com: And what about Freddie Mac? How did it change your terms or underwriting?

McRoberts: We executed well actually. We feel our structure is less vulnerable to market volatility. We executed $400 million in the week when the turbulence was at its peak. It was business as usual and we rate-locked business as well. In fact I would go so far as to say we feel we came back from the turbulence better than anyone else in the business.

GlobeSt.com: Again I realize you can’t discuss specifics, but there was some back and forth between the Washington Post and the Treasury Department about its intentions for the GSEs. How does that impact business?

McRoberts: As a general comment I will say that there has been a lot of discussion on this subject for years. Proposals have been made and earlier this year the Obama Administration released its paper on the subject. People will naturally have different positions and opinions. So we are going to continue to see speculation and reports like this until something gets done--it is just part of landscape.

GlobeSt.com: Tell me about the K certificate securities. How are they performing?

McRoberts: We had a deal in the market during the week of the downgrade-- K-14. It executed and closed exactly as expected.

GlobeSt.com: Did the downgrade affect it at all?

McRoberts: No, we had two rating agencies rate it and even though S&P [one of the rating agencies] pulled its rating, all of our investors stuck with it. It is too early to look at its performance, but it executed as planned.

GlobeSt.com: What do you anticipate for next year with these securities?

McRoberts: I would guess we will certainly continue with the same volume and possibly more. We think we are going to do more than $16 billion in conventional business next year, which could conceivably lead to more than 12 securitizations a year.