Fannie Mae Multifamily Financing Option Rewards Green Buildings

hamilton-zanze May 27, 2015

Fannie Mae announced a new multifamily financing option called Green Rewards, which will reportedly help apartment building and co-op owners reduce energy and water costs.

With the Green Rewards program, a portion of the owner’s and the tenant’s projected energy- and water-cost savings is included in the loan’s underwriting, resulting in greater loan proceeds. In addition, Green Rewards reduces the all-in interest rate by 0.1%.

Properties must be able to project a 20% minimum energy and/or water consumption savings to be eligible, and additional loan proceeds must be reinvested in the property within 12 months of loan closing. Loan recipients must report the property’s Energy Star score annually to track energy performance over time.

In February, Fannie Mae announced that multifamily properties with existing Green Building Certification would receive a 0.1% reduction in interest rates on new loans. In 2011, Fannie Mae introduced Green Preservation Plus, which provides up to an additional 5% in loan proceeds to affordable housing owners looking to make energy and water efficiency upgrades when acquiring or refinancing a property. Recently, Fannie Mae reduced the all-in interest rate on its Green Preservation Plus loans by 0.1%.

As of the end of 2014, Fannie Mae provided over $130 million in “green financing.”