Small Balance Apartment Lenders Compared ($1M-$10M)

Short answer

Of seven large names in small-balance apartment lending, six (Walker & Dunlop, Arbor, Berkadia, Greystone, Lument and Northmarq) hold Fannie Mae DUS, Freddie Mac Optigo Conventional Small and HUD MAP approvals; five are also Fannie Small Loan lenders. Marcus & Millichap Capital is an intermediary that reaches agency programs through M&T Realty Capital. None publishes an instant online quote.

The short version

For a $1 million to $10 million loan on a stabilized 5+ unit building, these seven companies fall into two groups. Six are agency lenders that hold the approvals themselves: Walker & Dunlop, Arbor, Berkadia, Greystone, Lument and Northmarq. All six are Fannie Mae DUS lenders, Freddie Mac Optigo lenders tagged for Conventional Small, and on HUD's MAP list. Five of the six are on Fannie's Small Loan lender list; Northmarq is not. The seventh, Marcus & Millichap Capital Corp. (MMCC), is a financial intermediary: it places loans with lenders and reaches agency programs through its alliance with M&T Realty Capital Corporation.

Everything below comes from the agencies' rosters and the companies' own websites, term sheets and filings, as of October 2026.

Agency approvals

Company	Fannie Mae DUS	Fannie Small Loan lender	Freddie Optigo Conventional Small	HUD MAP
Walker & Dunlop	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Arbor	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Berkadia	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Greystone	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Lument	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Northmarq	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Marcus & Millichap Capital	No (via M&T alliance)	No	No (via M&T alliance)	No

Sources: Fannie Mae's DUS and Small Loan lender pages and Freddie Mac's Optigo lender page, read October 29, 2026; HUD's Approved MAP Lenders list dated September 16, 2026. Roster names differ slightly from brand names (for example, Arbor Commercial Funding I, LLC on Fannie's list and Arbor Agency Lending LLC on Freddie's).

Published small-loan programs and size ranges

Company	What it publishes for small loans	Published size range
Walker & Dunlop	Small balance page marketing Fannie Mae Small Loans	$1 million and up; reduced processing for loans up to $9 million
Arbor	Small Loans page with Fannie Mae Small Loan and Freddie Mac Conventional Small term sheets	Page: $1 million to $9 million. Fannie term sheet: $750,000 to $9 million. Freddie: generally $2 million to $10 million
Berkadia	Small Loans page naming Fannie Mae Small Loans and Freddie Mac Small Balance Loans	Up to $9 million
Greystone	Fannie Mae Small Mortgage Loans and Freddie Mac Conventional Small term sheets	Fannie: up to $9 million. Freddie: $2 million to $10 million
Lument	Fannie Mae Small Loan Program and Freddie Mac Conventional Small term sheets	Fannie: up to $9 million. Freddie: generally $2 million to $10 million
Northmarq	No small-loan page found; Fannie Mae page does not state a size range. Northmarq Edge (in-house) targets larger loans	Edge: $5 million to more than $100 million
Marcus & Millichap Capital	No small-balance program page found; financing page describes capital placement across lender types	Not published

Berkadia's small loans page, as of October 29, 2026, still names Freddie Mac Small Balance Loans. Freddie retired SBL on April 15, 2026 and replaced it with Conventional Small, for which Berkadia carries the Optigo designation. Arbor's Small Loans page labels at least one past closing "Freddie Mac SBL," which reads as a historical label; its linked Freddie term sheet is Conventional Small. If a quote names SBL, ask which current product it is.

Online tools and reported volume

Company	Online tools found	Volume the company reports	Period and source
Walker & Dunlop	Estimated rate ranges ("Check Rates") on the small balance page; four-step quote form, then staff contact	$41.5B debt financing; $54.8B total transactions	Full-year 2025, earnings release filed with the SEC
Arbor	ALEX borrower portal for tracking a loan, uploading documents, e-signing and paying; quote request form	$5.07B agency originations	Full-year 2025, earnings release filed with the SEC
Berkadia	Get a Quote form	$35B total originations, 1,600+ loans; $694M across 212 Fannie and Freddie small loans	2025 (company release); 2024-2025 combined (small loans page)
Greystone	Quote request form	$13B loans originated	2025, company homepage
Lument	Contact forms	$6.2B Fannie, Freddie and HUD/FHA originations	2025, company statement citing MBA rankings
Northmarq	Rates and spreads page; contact forms	$7.3B Fannie Mae production	2022-2025 combined, company Fannie Mae page
Marcus & Millichap Capital	Contact form; originator directory	$11.9B financing volume, 1,659 transactions	Fiscal 2025, parent's 10-K

None of the seven offered a self-serve instant quote on the pages we reviewed. Each routes a loan request to staff.

What this comparison can and cannot tell you

It can tell you who is allowed to make which loan. A lender without the Fannie Small Loan approval cannot quote a Fannie Small Loan, and a lender without the Conventional Small tag cannot quote Freddie's small-loan product. It can also tell you each company's published entry point, which matters most at the edges: a $900,000 loan, or a $9.5 million loan that sits above Fannie's Small Loan limit but inside Conventional Small.

It cannot tell you who will price your loan best. The volume figures measure different things over different periods: debt financing, agency originations only, all originations, Fannie only over four years, and an intermediary's placements. They are not comparable to each other, and none of them is a small-loan figure except Berkadia's. Size does not predict your rate, your proceeds, or how a lender reads your rent roll. Nor does the table measure service, speed or certainty of execution; we do not rate those.

The way to compare lenders on your loan is to put the same rent roll, T-12 and request in front of several of them and line up the term sheets. Our term sheet comparison computes cost over your hold. apartment.loans, run by Janover Capital LLC, is a marketplace that shows you several lenders' terms at once; it is not a lender and is not affiliated with any company on this page. The trade-offs of using a marketplace versus going direct are on direct lender vs loan marketplace.

Beyond these seven

These are not the only small-loan lenders. Fannie's Small Loan list also includes Bellwether Enterprise, CBRE Multifamily Capital, Fifth Third, JPMorgan Chase, Regions, Zions Capital Markets and CPC Mortgage Company. Freddie's Conventional Small tag also covers banks such as Capital One, KeyBank, PNC and Wells Fargo, and Pinnacle Financial Partners and Ready Capital. Full lists: Fannie Mae DUS lenders and Freddie Mac Optigo lenders. Banks and credit unions outside the agency rosters compete on small loans too; see apartment lenders.

Frequently asked questions

Which lenders do small balance apartment loans under $10 million?

For agency loans, the lenders approved for Fannie Mae Small Loans (up to $9 million) and those tagged for Freddie Mac Conventional Small (generally $2 million to $10 million). As of October 2026 that includes Walker & Dunlop, Arbor, Berkadia, Greystone and Lument on both lists, Northmarq for Conventional Small, and banks such as JPMorgan Chase and Regions. Banks and credit unions also make small apartment loans on their own balance sheets.

Is Marcus & Millichap Capital a lender?

Its parent company's fiscal 2025 annual report describes Marcus & Millichap Capital Corp. as a financial intermediary that earns fees for placing financing with banks, credit unions, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA, conduits and debt funds. It is not on Fannie's, Freddie's or HUD's lender rosters itself; its agency access runs through a 2021 alliance with M&T Realty Capital Corporation, which is on all three.

Does a bigger lender get me a better rate?

Not necessarily. Agency program limits are the same at every approved lender, and pricing depends on your building, your numbers and how each lender reads them. The volume figures companies report measure different things over different periods and do not predict what you will be offered. Comparing several term sheets on the same loan request is the reliable test.

Which of these lenders has an online quote tool?

None of the seven offered an instant self-serve quote on the pages we reviewed in October 2026. Walker & Dunlop's small balance page shows estimated rate ranges and a multi-step quote form. Arbor's ALEX portal is for managing a loan already in process, not quoting. The others use quote request or contact forms followed by staff contact.

Are Freddie Mac Small Balance Loans still available?

No. Freddie Mac retired its Small Balance Loan program on April 15, 2026 and replaced it with Conventional Small. Some lender websites, including Berkadia's small loans page as of October 29, 2026, still name the old program. If a quote or page mentions SBL, ask the lender which current Freddie product it is quoting.