Partner Engineering and Science’s, Melissa Dahl recently wrote an blog post encouraging borrowers to take advantage of green lending and multifamily incentives in the greater NYC area.
The multifamily green financing programs within both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have been extremely successful, with Fannie Mae closing on 500 green multi-family transactions through October 2017. Implementing green efficiency measures includes specific percentage reduction in water and energy use, benchmarking, and even air quality.
The demand for energy-efficient buildings in the commercial real estate market place is bigger than ever. There is a substantial shortage of energy-efficient properties, especially as more concrete data demonstrates the ROI of energy benchmarking and efficiency investments. This is resulting in more pressure from investors and tenants on pension funds and investment portfolios to have sustainable properties. There is more interest in improving existing stock: buildings certified as “green” or “efficient” increased from 5% in 2005 to 38% last year in the top 30 U.S. markets. There is even a new ASTM standard in the works for better energy efficiency in building roofs. Nowhere is this commitment towards efficiency more evident than in multifamily green lending programs. In their newly announced 2018 lending caps, Freddie Mac will be excluding Green Up and Green Up Plus loans, provided that energy and water usage are reduced by 25%. This is great news as Freddie’s green programs will not have to abide by the FHFA’s reduced lending caps and can therefore top their robust year in 2017.
Partner is a full-service engineering, environmental and energy consulting and design services throughout the Americas, Europe, and around the globe. Our team of engineers and industry professionals have a deep knowledge of agency lending requirements and can navigate any part of the process.