Walker & Dunlop Investment Partners, Walker &  Dunlop's wholly owned alternative investment manager focused on middle-market commercial real estate investments, has partnered with Ivanhoé Cambridge, a Canadian real estate company with assets around the globe, to form a programmatic joint venture.

 The joint venture will make preferred equity investments in multifamily, student housing, and manufactured housing properties throughout the US. Its strategy will focus on identifying opportunities with stabilized properties, primarily in top 25 MSAs, with three-to-ten-year investment horizons. The venture aims to address the growing need for flexible gap financing amidst a low cap-rate, high-liquidity capital markets environment in the residential space.

 "We're excited to grow our relationship with Ivanhoé Cambridge through this program by capitalizing on the low cap rate, high-liquidity conditions driving demand for gap financing in the market today," said Sam Isaacson, president of WDIP, in prepared remarks. "Our product is designed to help sponsors achieve their desired leverage targets with incremental proceeds at a much lower cost of capital than common equity."