Multifamily apartment building loans, made simple.
Finding a loan for a multifamily property can be difficult. Calling CMC is simple. We connect you with commercial financing built specifically for 5+ unit residential properties.
Multifamily apartment lending, structured for real-world deals.
With CMC, owning a multifamily property becomes a real possibility. Apartment buildings remain among the most lucrative and operationally clean real estate investments — rentals are in demand, and they generate consistent income.
Condos, apartment complexes, and any building with 5+ units count as multifamily. Our team specializes in this asset class. Our lenders provide loans to borrowers with imperfect credit, at affordable rates, with flexible repayment terms — so you can run your portfolio on your own plan.
Our goal is simple: get the funding you need without the red tape of a traditional lender.
Get your apartments funded →Let CMC connect you with multifamily apartment building loans.
Flexible financing,
made easy.
Property financing solutions, crafted by experts who understand real estate goals. Senior-led, story-driven, and structured against the realities of your deal.
Get expert brokerage guidance →No minimum FICO score required
Bad credit is not a deal breaker
30-year repayment terms available
No prepayment penalties
Fast closings
Often 15 days or less
Apartment building loan programs we place.
There is no single apartment building loan. A stabilized 40-unit building in Westchester and a half-vacant value-add walk-up in the Bronx are financed by completely different lenders, at different leverage, on very different timelines. CMC is a broker rather than a single balance sheet, so your file goes to agency, bank, debt fund, conduit and HUD sources at the same time and comes back with the structures that actually fit the asset.
The table below shows how the main sources of multifamily and apartment building financing typically compare. Use it to orient yourself, then let us price the specific deal.
| Program | Typical loan size | Indicative max LTV | Term and amortization | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agency (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) | 1M to 100M+ | Up to 80% | 5 to 30 year fixed, 30 year am | Stabilized 5+ unit assets that want long fixed terms and non-recourse debt |
| Bank and credit union | 250K to 25M | Up to 75% | 5 to 10 year fixed, 25 to 30 year am | Smaller buildings, local relationships and faster closings; a personal guarantee is usually required |
| Debt fund and bridge | 1M to 75M | Up to 80% of cost | 12 to 36 months, interest only | Value-add, lease-up, repositioning and quick-close acquisitions |
| CMBS and conduit | 2M to 100M+ | Up to 75% | 5, 7 or 10 year fixed, 30 year am | Non-recourse fixed-rate debt and cash-out on stabilized assets |
| HUD and FHA insured | 2M to 100M+ | Up to 85% | 35 to 40 years, fully amortizing | Owners who want the lowest payment and the longest term and can absorb a longer process |
Ranges above are indicative and reflect programs commonly available in the market. Actual sizing depends on the property, the market and the borrower. Nothing on this page is a commitment to lend or an offer of credit.
What actually drives your apartment building loan rate.
We deliberately do not publish one apartment building loan rate, because a single number would be wrong for almost everyone who reads it. Multifamily pricing is built from an index that moves daily plus a spread the lender sets only after it reads your deal. Two owners can call on the same morning with the same loan amount and receive quotes more than a full point apart.
These are the inputs that move a multifamily loan quote the most:
- Debt service coverage. Most permanent lenders want to see roughly 1.20x to 1.25x DSCR on in-place income, not projections.
- Leverage. The lower your request sits against value, the tighter the spread. See how LTV ratios work on apartment loans.
- Occupancy and stability. Permanent debt generally expects the building to be roughly 90% occupied and holding for at least 90 days.
- Vintage, condition and unit mix. Deferred maintenance and heavy studio concentration both cost basis points.
- Market and submarket liquidity. Primary market assets price better than thin tertiary markets with few comparable sales.
- Sponsor strength. Experience with the asset class, net worth against the loan amount and post-close liquidity all feed the spread.
- Credit profile. Some programs carry no minimum FICO requirement, but credit still shapes leverage. Read more on credit scores in apartment building loan approval.
- Fixed versus floating. Fixed debt prices off the relevant Treasury or swap; floating debt prices off SOFR plus a spread.
- Term, interest-only and prepayment. Step-down, yield maintenance and defeasance are priced differently, and the cheapest headline rate often carries the most expensive exit.
- Recourse. Non-recourse is available on agency, conduit and HUD insured debt and normally costs a little in rate or leverage.
The practical move is to size the deal before you shop it. Run the scenario on our loan calculator, then read how commercial mortgage rates are built so the quotes you receive are easy to compare.
How to get a commercial loan for an apartment building.
Most owners lose weeks by walking a half-finished file into one bank, waiting, getting a no, and starting over. The sequence below is the one that closes. It is the same path we run whether the request is 400,000 dollars on a six-unit or 40 million dollars on a portfolio.
- Scenario call, about fifteen minutes.Address, unit count, purchase price or current value, in-place rents, occupancy and what you are trying to accomplish. That is enough to tell you whether the deal is financeable and roughly where.
- Build the document package.The rent roll and trailing twelve months of operating statements do most of the work. A clean package is the single biggest lever on speed.
- Lender matching.We take the file to the sources that are actively lending on that asset type, in that market, this month. Appetite changes constantly, which is why a single relationship is a liability.
- Term sheet comparison.We line quotes up side by side on rate, leverage, recourse, interest-only, prepayment and total cost, not just the headline rate.
- Underwriting and third-party reports.Appraisal, property condition report and environmental screen are ordered, and lender counsel begins documents. This stage sets the real timeline.
- Closing and funding.Final conditions cleared, documents signed, proceeds funded.
What to have ready
- Current rent roll with lease start and end dates
- Trailing twelve months of operating statements plus the two prior years
- Personal financial statement and schedule of real estate owned
- Executed purchase contract, if you are acquiring
- Interior and exterior photographs
- Capital improvement history and planned budget
- Entity documents for the borrowing entity
- Two years of personal and business tax returns
On timing, 30 to 60 days from signed term sheet is normal for bank and agency debt, and most of that window is appraisal and third-party turnaround rather than credit. Bridge and debt fund closings frequently run two to four weeks. If you want the longer view, our walkthrough of the commercial real estate financing process covers each stage in detail.
Refinancing and cash-out on an apartment building.
Refinancing an apartment building is usually about one of three things: replacing debt that is maturing, lowering the payment, or pulling equity out to fund the next acquisition. All three are underwritten off the same figure, which is your net operating income today. Improve the NOI and every option in front of you improves with it.
Rate and term refinance replaces the existing loan without taking proceeds. It is the common exit for owners coming off a short bank term or a maturing balloon, and it is the fastest of the three because the lender is not underwriting new equity leaving the building.
Cash-out refinance lets you recapitalize. The ceiling is set by the new loan to value and the debt service coverage that survives after the cash-out, so a building with strong in-place rents and light debt can often release meaningful capital while a thinly covered building cannot. Before you commit, check the prepayment structure on the loan you are leaving, because yield maintenance or defeasance on a conduit loan can quietly erase the benefit.
Bridge to permanent is the value-add path. Short-term debt funds the renovation and lease-up, then permanent agency or bank debt takes it out once the building is stabilized and the new rents are seasoned. Getting that exit priced at the start, not at the end, is what keeps the plan solvent.
If a bank has already turned the file down, that is not the end of the conversation. Read what to do about a commercial mortgage after a bank denial, or look at portfolio lending if you want several buildings under one facility.
Why apartment loans get declined, and how they get fixed.
Very few multifamily declines are about the borrower. Most are a mismatch between the file and the lender it was shown to. These are the five we see most often.
- Coverage is thin. In-place income does not clear the lender minimum. The fix is usually a longer amortization, an interest-only period, or lower proceeds rather than a different lender.
- The building is not stabilized. Permanent lenders will not underwrite a lease-up. Bridge debt will, and then hands the asset to permanent debt once occupancy holds.
- Deferred maintenance shows up in the property condition report. A funded repair escrow keeps the deal alive instead of killing it.
- Sponsor experience or liquidity is light. A partner, a co-signer or slightly lower leverage generally solves this.
- The paperwork is incomplete. Inconsistent rent rolls and missing operating statements read as risk. A clean, reconciled package changes the answer more often than owners expect.
A commercial mortgage broker earns their keep here, by knowing which of these a given lender will forgive before the file is ever submitted.
Where we place apartment building loans.
CMC places multifamily and apartment building loans nationwide. Our deepest concentration is the New York metropolitan area, where we have been financing 5+ unit buildings for years and know which lenders are comfortable with rent-regulated exposure, older housing stock and mixed-use ground floors.
New York metro: Yonkers, Mount Vernon, New Rochelle and greater Westchester, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, Staten Island, Long Island, Rockland and Orange counties, plus northern New Jersey and southern Connecticut. Nationwide: Florida, Texas, Arizona, Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Colorado, Nevada and California.
If you are local to Westchester, here is more on working with a commercial mortgage broker in Yonkers, NY. For non-multifamily assets, start with our commercial mortgage programs instead.
Apartment building loan FAQs.
What counts as an apartment building loan?
In commercial lending, an apartment building loan finances a residential property with five or more units held as an investment. One to four unit properties are normally underwritten as residential investment property instead. Condos, garden-style complexes, walk-ups, mid-rise buildings and mixed-use buildings with a dominant rental component all sit inside the multifamily bucket.
How much down payment do I need for an apartment building?
Plan on 20 to 35 percent of the purchase price for most acquisitions. Agency and conduit programs commonly reach 75 to 80 percent loan to value on stabilized assets, banks tend to sit nearer 70 to 75 percent, and HUD insured programs can go higher in exchange for a longer process. Closing costs, reserves and third-party report fees are on top of the down payment.
What is the smallest apartment building loan CMC will place?
We work from 250,000 dollars up to 250 million dollars. Small balance requests are placed with banks, credit unions and small balance agency programs rather than conduit lenders, which generally start much higher.
Can I get an apartment building loan with imperfect credit?
Yes. Several lenders in our network carry no minimum FICO requirement and underwrite the property first. Credit still affects your pricing and your leverage, and a clear written explanation of past issues genuinely helps.
Are apartment building loans non-recourse?
Agency, conduit and HUD insured loans are typically non-recourse with standard carve-outs. Bank and credit union loans usually require a personal guarantee. Bridge debt varies by lender. If non-recourse is a hard requirement for you, say so on the first call, because it narrows the lender list immediately.
How long does it take to close an apartment building loan?
From a signed term sheet, 30 to 60 days is normal for bank and agency debt, and most of that window is appraisal and third-party report turnaround rather than credit review. Bridge and debt fund closings frequently run two to four weeks.
Can I take cash out when I refinance an apartment building?
Yes, on most stabilized properties. The ceiling is the new loan to value and the debt service coverage that survives after the cash-out. Check the prepayment structure on your existing loan first, since yield maintenance or defeasance can outweigh the benefit of refinancing early.
Do you finance out-of-state or portfolio deals?
Yes. We place loans nationwide, and multiple buildings can be cross-collateralized under a single facility through portfolio lending. Send the schedule of properties and we will size it as one request.
Commercial Mortgage Connection is a commercial mortgage broker. The figures on this page are general market information for educational purposes, not a quote, a rate lock, or a commitment to lend. Loan amounts, rates, leverage and terms are determined by the lender after full underwriting and vary by property, market and borrower.
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