BETHESDA, MD-Walker & Dunlop is expanding its platforms in a number of areas, including interim lending. The company has made some $73 million of floating-rate interim loans since the program launched last year and even as rates appear poised to rise, it anticipates steady growth for this particular product line.

The program was established to provide loans to borrowers seeking to acquire or reposition multifamily, independent living or assisted living properties and in need of short-term finance to get to a GSE or HUD exit, W&D's Sandor Biderman tells GlobeSt.com—a process that can take up to 24 months.

In other cases a company might be buying a property that didn't meet the GSEs' requirement of occupancy and the borrower needed short-term funds to stabilize the property, he explains.

"Now we are expanding even further and offering rehab financing for projects that need upgrades. A lot of deals we are seeing now are value-add plays so this program is in strong demand with these companies. Rising interest rates are not having an impact on this program for a couple of reasons. One, to state the obvious, the floating rate product is priced over Libor, which is not likely to move in the short term. "And I would say we are actually being affected in a positive manner [from the concerns over the interest rates rising] because so many deals aren't working on the fixed rate side and people are looking for floating rate product."