Apartment Lenders: Types, Rosters and How to Choose

Short answer

Apartment loans of $1 million and up come from Fannie Mae DUS and Freddie Mac Optigo lenders, banks and credit unions, life insurance companies, CMBS conduits, debt funds and bridge lenders, and HUD MAP lenders, plus brokers and marketplaces that place loans with them. Stabilized buildings usually go agency or bank; buildings in transition usually start with bridge debt.

The short version

There are seven kinds of places a loan on a 5+ unit building can come from, and each is built around a different source of money. Agency lenders sell your loan to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Banks and credit unions hold it with depositors' money. Life companies hold it for decades against insurance liabilities. CMBS conduits pool it into bonds. Debt funds lend investor capital for short, higher-priced bridge loans. HUD MAP lenders originate loans that FHA insures. Brokers and marketplaces do not lend at all: they take your deal to several of the others.

Where the money comes from decides almost everything you care about: how much they will lend, for how long, whether you sign a personal guaranty, what it costs to pay off early, and how fast they close. Pick the kind of lender first. Pick the company second.

The seven kinds of apartment lenders

Lender type	Whose money	Usually fits	What you give up
Fannie Mae DUS and Freddie Mac Optigo lenders	Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, then bond investors	Stabilized buildings, long fixed terms, non-recourse	Escrows, reserves, stricter prepayment, a standard box
Banks and credit unions	Deposits, held on the balance sheet	Relationship borrowers, light renovation, shorter holds	Often a personal guaranty, shorter terms, annual covenants
Life insurance companies	Insurance premiums, held long term	Low leverage, high-quality buildings, larger loans	Loan size: they usually want lower leverage
CMBS conduits	Bond investors, after securitization	Buildings agencies or banks pass on, non-recourse needs	Flexibility after closing; defeasance or yield maintenance
Debt funds and bridge lenders	Private investor capital	Lease-up, renovation, below-par occupancy, speed	Higher rate and fees, short term, a takeout you must hit
HUD MAP lenders	Ginnie Mae securities, FHA-insured	Long-hold owners who want the longest amortization	Time: HUD processing is longer than agency or bank
Brokers and marketplaces	None: they place your loan with the lenders above	Owners who want several lenders' terms side by side	A placement fee in some cases; ask how they are paid

Terms within each row vary by lender and by deal. The table describes how each type usually behaves, not a quote.

Agency lenders: Fannie Mae DUS and Freddie Mac Optigo

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac do not take loan applications from borrowers. They work through approved lenders. Fannie's are called DUS lenders (Delegated Underwriting and Servicing): Fannie delegates underwriting and servicing to them, and they share in losses. Freddie's are called Optigo lenders. As of October 2026, Fannie's roster lists 24 DUS lenders and Freddie's lists 26 Optigo lenders, with heavy overlap between the two.

For loans under $10 million, each agency has a small-loan channel. Fannie Mae Small Loans go up to $9 million, and only some DUS lenders are approved for them. Freddie Mac retired its Small Balance Loan program on April 15, 2026 and replaced it with Conventional Small: generally $2 million to $10 million, up to 80% LTV, a minimum 1.25x DSCR, and 50 units or fewer. Optigo lenders carry separate designations for Conventional, Conventional Small, Seniors Housing and Targeted Affordable Housing, so being on the roster does not mean a lender does small loans.

Agency debt usually wins for a stabilized building with clean books and an owner who plans to hold. Our roster pages list who is approved for what: Fannie Mae DUS lenders and Freddie Mac Optigo lenders. For the programs themselves, see Fannie Mae Small Loans and Fannie Mae DUS loans.

Banks and credit unions

A bank or credit union keeps your loan on its own books, so it can make exceptions an agency cannot: a building at 85% occupancy, a unit renovation in progress, a borrower with a thin resume but a long deposit history. The price of that flexibility is usually a personal guaranty, a three- to seven-year term that balloons, and an annual covenant test.

Banks win when you want speed, a lender you can call, or a loan you plan to pay off before an agency prepayment window would open. They also compete hard on smaller loans where agency fixed costs eat into the rate advantage. If you are weighing the two, read Fannie Mae Small Loans vs bank loans and refinancing a bank loan into agency debt. More on bank terms: bank apartment loans.

Life insurance companies

Life companies lend their own long-dated capital and are selective about it. They tend to favor lower leverage and well-located, well-kept buildings, and in return can offer long fixed terms and a simpler closing than a securitized loan. Many have minimum loan sizes that sit above the smaller end of the 5+ unit market, so they show up more often on larger refinances. See life company apartment loans and life company vs agency.

CMBS conduits

A conduit lender makes a loan intended to be pooled with others and sold as commercial mortgage-backed securities. Underwriting is driven by the bond market, which can make CMBS the answer for a building an agency or bank passes on, or for a borrower who needs non-recourse debt and does not fit the agency box. After closing, the loan is handled by a servicer under pooling rules, so modifications, assumptions and early payoff are more rigid. See CMBS apartment loans and agency vs CMBS.

Debt funds and bridge lenders

Bridge lenders finance the gap: a lease-up, a value-add renovation, a building with occupancy too low for permanent debt, or a purchase that has to close fast. Loans are usually floating rate, interest-only, two to three years plus extensions, and priced well above permanent debt. The plan only works if the building qualifies for a permanent takeout at the end, so test that before you sign. Our bridge takeout test runs the math, and refinancing a bridge loan covers the exit. More on terms: apartment bridge loans.

HUD MAP lenders

FHA-insured apartment loans are originated by lenders HUD approves under Multifamily Accelerated Processing (MAP). The HUD 223(f) refinance and purchase program allows up to 87% LTV at a 1.15x DSCR for market-rate buildings (90% and 1.11x for affordable) with up to 35-year amortization. For applications submitted or amended on or after October 1, 2025, the mortgage insurance premium is 0.25% a year, plus a 0.25% upfront premium that is capitalized into the loan. The trade is time: HUD loans take longer to close than agency or bank loans. See HUD 223(f) loans and HUD 223(f) vs Fannie Mae.

Brokers and marketplaces

A mortgage broker or financial intermediary does not fund your loan. It takes your package to lenders and earns a placement fee, from you, the lender, or both. Some large intermediaries reach agency programs through an alliance with an approved lender rather than holding the approvals themselves; Marcus & Millichap Capital Corp., for example, describes its agency access as running through M&T Realty Capital Corporation in its parent company's filings.

apartment.loans is run by Janover Capital LLC as a marketplace: you submit one loan request and see several lenders' terms at once, across agency, bank, HUD and bridge options. Janover is not a lender. Whoever you use, ask in writing how they are paid and which lenders they will show your loan to. The trade-offs are laid out in direct lender vs loan marketplace.

When each kind of lender wins

Your situation	Start with	Also ask
Stabilized, 90%+ occupied, holding 7+ years, loan $1M to $9M	Fannie Mae Small Loan lenders, Freddie Conventional Small lenders	A bank, for a shorter-term comparison
Stabilized, want the longest amortization and highest leverage	HUD MAP lenders (223(f))	Agency lenders, if timing matters more
Maturing bank loan, selling or recapitalizing within 3 years	Banks and credit unions	Agency lenders with a declining prepayment option
Low leverage, high-quality building, larger loan	Life companies	Agency lenders
Does not fit the agency box but cash flows	CMBS conduits	Banks
Occupancy down, renovation underway, or lease-up	Bridge lenders and debt funds	Banks with a renovation appetite

Six answers is faster with our loan matcher, which ranks programs against your units, occupancy, loan size and hold period.

How to choose a lender, in order

Decide what the loan has to do. Cash out, a long fixed rate, no personal guaranty, the ability to sell in three years: rank these. They point to a lender type before any rate does.
Check eligibility before you shop. Run your occupancy, DSCR, LTV, net worth and liquidity through the eligibility checker so you do not spend weeks with a lender whose program you fail.
Size the loan the way the lender will. Lenders underwrite your NOI with their own vacancy, management and reserve assumptions. The T-12 underwriting calculator shows the gap.
Get several term sheets on the same numbers. Two to four quotes across at least two lender types. Approved-lender rosters tell you who can make a program loan, not who will price yours best.
Compare the whole cost over your hold. Rate, fees, reserves, interest-only months and prepayment all move the real cost. Put them in the term sheet comparison.
Read the recourse and prepayment language. These are the terms owners most often regret. Have your attorney read the guaranty.

Lender rosters and company pages

Roster pages, built from the agencies' own published lists:

Fannie Mae DUS lenders, with Small Loan approvals marked
Freddie Mac Optigo lenders, with Conventional, Conventional Small, Seniors and Targeted Affordable designations
Small balance apartment lenders compared: seven companies side by side for $1M to $10M loans

Company pages, each built from that company's public materials and the agency rosters:

Head-to-head comparisons of loan types are collected on compare loan options. apartment.loans is not affiliated with any lender named on these pages.

In this section

Frequently asked questions

Who are the main lenders for apartment buildings with 5 or more units?

Loans on 5+ unit buildings come from Fannie Mae DUS lenders, Freddie Mac Optigo lenders, banks and credit unions, life insurance companies, CMBS conduit lenders, debt funds and bridge lenders, and HUD MAP lenders for FHA-insured loans. Brokers and marketplaces place loans with all of these but do not fund loans themselves. Which one fits depends on occupancy, loan size, how long you plan to hold, and whether you will sign a personal guaranty.

Can I apply for a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac apartment loan directly?

No. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac buy or guarantee multifamily loans but do not take applications from borrowers. You apply through an approved lender: a DUS lender for Fannie Mae or an Optigo lender for Freddie Mac. For loans under $10 million, check that the lender is approved for Fannie Mae Small Loans or carries Freddie Mac's Conventional Small designation, since not every approved lender is.

Is a bank or an agency lender better for a small apartment loan?

For a stabilized building you plan to hold, agency loans usually offer longer fixed terms and non-recourse debt, while banks usually offer more flexibility, faster closings and lighter prepayment terms in exchange for a personal guaranty and a shorter term. Getting a quote from each on the same numbers is the only reliable way to know which costs less for your hold period.

What happened to Freddie Mac Small Balance Loans?

Freddie Mac retired its Small Balance Loan program on April 15, 2026 and moved small loans into its Conventional platform as Conventional Small. Conventional Small loans generally run $2 million to $10 million, up to 80% LTV with a minimum 1.25x DSCR, for buildings of 50 units or fewer. Some lender websites still describe the old program, so confirm which product a term sheet is quoting.

Is a loan broker or marketplace a lender?

No. A broker or marketplace takes your loan request to lenders and helps you compare and close, but the money comes from the lender. Brokers are paid a placement fee by the borrower, the lender, or both, so ask how yours is paid. Janover Capital LLC, which runs apartment.loans, is a marketplace that shows several lenders' terms at once and is not a lender.