Freddie Looks to Grow in Apartment Financing

Wall Street Journal (02/04/08) P. A2; Wei, Lingling; Hagerty, James R.
In an effort to become more involved in financing apartment communities, Freddie Mac is looking to create and sell bonds backed by multifamily mortgages. If approved by its management and regulators, the move would place the government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) in a much more competitive position with Wall Street. The GSE's proposal comes at a time when mounting concerns of deteriorating credit quality in the commercial real estate sector have made investors skittish about purchasing commercial-mortgage-backed securities (CMBS). Bonds packed with multifamily mortgages currently comprise roughly 18 percent of the $800 billion CMBS market.