Fannie Mae Multifamily Affordable Housing Loans

How Fannie Mae Organizes Affordable Lending

Multifamily Affordable Housing, which everyone in the business shortens to MAH, is not one Fannie Mae product. It is a category holding roughly a dozen executions, and choosing among them is most of the work on an affordable deal. This page maps the menu so you can find the right door before you spend a month at the wrong one.

The organizing question is simple. Is the property already built and stabilized, or does the capital have to arrive before the building exists?

Bond Financing Options

MBS as Tax-Exempt Bond Collateral, or MTEB. A Fannie Mae MBS used as collateral to credit enhance existing fixed-rate bond issues carrying 4% LIHTC.

Tax-Exempt Bond Credit Enhancement. Fixed-rate options for acquiring or refinancing multifamily properties inside a bond structure.

Forward Commitment Options

Unfunded Forward Commitment for 4% LIHTC Properties. A commitment to issue an MBS on completion, converting to a permanent loan for a MAH property.

Unfunded Forward Commitment for 9% LIHTC Properties. The same mechanic for competitively awarded 9% credit deals.

MBS Exchange, taxable forward. A forward commitment structure that funds acquisition, construction, rehabilitation, or refinancing for affordable properties.

Permanent and Subordinate Financing

Affordable Housing Preservation. The general-purpose permanent loan for stabilized rent-restricted property. Five to 30 year terms, 80% LTV, 1.20x coverage. Covered in depth on our preservation page.

Mod Rehab Supplemental Mortgage Loan. Subordinate financing for affordable properties that have completed a moderate rehabilitation, priced below a standard supplemental and exempt from the one-supplemental rule. See the moderate rehab page.

Credit Facility. A portfolio tool letting a borrower manage debt across multiple properties at once.

Other Executions

Standard FHA Risk Sharing. Better pricing on MAH transactions through Fannie's risk-sharing arrangement with HUD, while the borrower keeps working only with their Fannie lender. Terms run 15 to 40 years. See the risk sharing page.

Near-Stabilization Execution. Permanent financing for conventional and affordable properties before full stabilization, at 1.15x coverage for MAH loans at Tier 2. Details on the near-stabilization page.

Expanded Rate Buydown Options, Streamlined Rate Lock, and Rural Housing Section 515. Rate management tools and a dedicated program for preserving affordability in USDA Section 515 properties.

Program menu confirmed against Fannie Mae's Affordable Loans page at multifamily.fanniemae.com/financing-options/affordable-loans and its Term Sheet Library, fetched July 31, 2026. Individual terms are on each product's own term sheet and change without notice.

What Makes a Property Affordable to Fannie Mae

Recorded restrictions, not intent. Fannie's preservation criteria set the working test: 20% or more of units rented to families at or below 50% of area median income, 40% or more at or below 60% of AMI, or a project-based Section 8 contract covering 20% or more of units. The restriction has to be recorded against the property.

A property with naturally low rents and no recorded agreement is a workforce housing deal, not a MAH deal, and it belongs in a different part of Fannie's menu.

Why Does the Affordable Side Get Better Terms?

Because the risk profile genuinely differs and because the mandate exists. Restricted rents cap upside and downside together, occupancy on well-run affordable property is usually near full with a waiting list, and FHFA's annual multifamily loan purchase caps carve out affordable business, which changes the agencies' appetite late in a capped year.

The practical result is coverage relief of 5 to 10 basis points against conventional, longer terms, and amortization to 35 or 40 years depending on the execution.

What Slows These Deals Down?

Subordinate debt. Almost every affordable deal carries soft money from a city, a state housing finance agency, or a nonprofit, and every layer has its own intercreditor terms. Fannie permits hard subordinate debt only from public, quasi-public, or not-for-profit lenders, with combined coverage no lower than 1.05x, and caps soft debt payments at 75% of available cash flow after senior liens and operating expenses.

Get the subordinate lenders talking early. That single step decides whether a preservation deal closes in four months or nine.

Should You Also Price Freddie and HUD?

Yes, on every affordable deal. Freddie Mac's Targeted Affordable Housing menu covers similar ground with different parameters, and HUD's insured programs win on term length whenever a sponsor wants 35 or 40 fully amortizing years. Start with Freddie Mac multifamily loans and HUD multifamily loans.

Send us the restriction documents, the soft debt stack, and the operating statements. We will price the deal across all three and tell you which one actually sizes.