Texas Real Estate Business • JUN 2018

www.REBusinessOnline.com June 2018 • Volume 14, Issue 4 CAN AGENCY LENDERS KEEP UP THE PACE? Multifamily loan production for both Fannie and Freddie reached record highs in 2017, but rising interest rates threaten to curb activity this year. By John Nelson annie Mae and Freddie Mac are coming off a banner year that saw both agencies break their previously held records for annual multifamily loan production. Fannie Mae produced $67.1 billion in financ -ing, while Freddie Mac’s 2017 vol -ume was $73.2 billion. For the third year in a row, Freddie Mac was the nation’s top multifamily financier. “Last year saw somewhat un -expected growth, and it was very broad-based,” says David Brickman, executive vice president and head of Freddie Mac Multifamily. The agency’s production last year far surpassed Brickman’s estimate of F Walker & Dunlop recently structured a Fannie Mae green loan for Las Terrazas, a 230-unit community in Dallas. Production of green loans continues to grow for both agencies. $60 billion that he made a year ago, thanks largely to the gains in Freddie Mac’s targeted affordable and small balance business lines. The largest leap, though, was in its Green Ad -vantage program. “There was very little green busi -ness in 2016, $3.3 billion, and then a significant jump in 2017 — $18.7 bil -lion,” says Brickman. (See “Agencies Pump Up Green Business” on page 28.) Through the first quarter of 2018, the agencies are doing less business in conventional loans than in previ -ous years. Phyllis Klein, vice presi -dent for multifamily customer en -SEE AGENCY, page 26 A NEW ERA FOR INDUSTRIAL DESIGN E-commerce and new logistics technologies are forcing designers to scrap one-size-fits-all designs for warehouses, manufacturing plants and distribution centers. By Taylor Williams emand for industrial space is soaring, causing devel-opers to break ground and deliver new product at blistering speeds. The growth of e-commerce has opened the doors for more com -petitors to enter the freight and lo -gistics spaces. On the other side of the industrial real estate continuum, manufacturers are experiencing a resurgence of job growth. The latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) notes that the United States added nearly 50,000 new manufacturing jobs during D March and April. The sector’s year-to-date job growth exceeds 200,000 new positions, greatly increasing the demand for new manufacturing space. In addition, the market for manu -facturing real estate is aided by the advent of new technologies that are changing the face of the sector’s day-to-day operations. The rising influence of cloud com -puting and other forms of software that track inventories and model ideal production rates allow for more seamless manufacturing. Au -At 50 feet tall and featuring a siphonic roof drain system, Arch-Con’s 1 million-square-foot Southlink Logistics Center in Dallas captures several new industrial design trends. SEE DESIGN, page 29 INSIDE THIS ISSUE Market Highlight: Fort Worth — TCU’s Impact on Retail — Dallas vs. Fort Worth Industrial pages 18-21 Financial Resource: Our Annual Fannie Mae DUS Lenders Guide pages 24-25 Details on InterFace Multifamily Texas & Healthcare Real Estate page 27