Yes, both Fannie and Freddie offer cooperative loan programs for established multifamily cooperatives. Underwriting differs from rental multifamily: focus on maintenance fee adequacy, share-loan exposure, and sponsor-reserved units. Pricing is competitive with rental multifamily for well-managed cooperatives in mature markets.
What underwriting is unique to co-ops?
Maintenance fee budget review (must cover operating expenses, debt service, and reserves), individual share-loan exposure on units mortgaged by shareholders, sponsor-reserved unit count and risk profile, and the cooperative's bylaws governing transfer restrictions and board approval rights.
Where is co-op lending concentrated?
New York City has the deepest co-op market and the most experienced lender pool. Other markets with meaningful co-op stock (Washington DC, San Francisco, parts of New England) also have agency execution available, but lender selection narrows considerably outside New York.
Sources
- Delegated Underwriting and Servicing (DUS) program disclosures · Fannie Mae · current
- Optigo lending program disclosures · Freddie Mac Multifamily · current