The two giant government-sponsored entities, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, always had the implicit backing of the U.S. government. But that unspoken backing gained official status in September when the government placed the two troubled giants into conservatorship.The new agency that oversees the two GSEs, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, released a statement on Sept. 12 emphasizing its commitment to the multi-family market.\u201cFHFA recognizes the importance of all aspects of the enterprises\u2019 multi-family businesses–including the LIHTC (low-income-housing tax credit) area and liquidity facilities for remarketed mortgage revenue bonds–for a healthy secondary market and housing affordability. In particular, support for multi-family housing finance is central to the enterprises\u2019 public purpose,\u201d the statement said.During the recent CityScape USA conference held in New York City, Kenneth Bacon, Fannie Mae\u2019s executive vice president of housing and community development, asserted in his keynote address that the U.S. multi-family market has some strong demographic trends in its corner. The sector will be buoyed by projected population growth, a significant portion of it from continued immigration. But he also offered some caveats, noting that a recession is always a threat to the multi-family sector\u2019s health. Also, some multi-family markets are faring far worse than others, Bacon said, naming Orlando\u2019s rental stock as one example of a city\u2019s multi-family sector being challenged by a \u201cshadow market\u201d caused by broken condominium projects.Some investors are expecting a certain amount of trouble in the multi-family sector and are strategizing accordingly. This month, GFI Capital Resources announced it had formed a joint venture with the major private equity player The Carlyle Group to acquire real estate assets throughout the United States, with an emphasis on multi-family properties. The partnership will provide GFI with $1.2 billion in buying power, leveraging a total of $300 million worth of equity. The company will focus on opportunistic acquisitions, in particular distressed and other non-performing assets, such as real estate debt. The company has made a number of recent acquisitions, including three properties totaling just under 1,000 residential units, all in the Atlanta area. GFI also recently purchased three non-performing loans on condo projects in various stages of development in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The two giant government-sponsored entities, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, always had the implicit backing of the U.S. government. But that unspoken backing gained official status in September when the government placed the two troubled giants into conservatorship.The new agency that oversees the two GSEs, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, released a statement on Sept.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1314,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21742],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1003851673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n