Construction loan shoppers bump up lender numbers

Real Estate Weekly,  July 11, 2007  

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Cambridge Realty Capital Companies reports reviewing 29 loan origination requests in May totaling $446.7 million.

"The number of loans reviewed is down slightly from the same month last year but volume is up substantially. In May 2006 we had 37 origination requests totaling $303.4 million," said Cambridge chairman Jeffrey A. Davis.

Davis said year-to-date totals reflect a similar trend, with the number of origination requests down but volume up significantly. Through the first five months of this year Cambridge reviewed 160 loans totaling $2.05 billion. This compares with 183 loans totaling $1.32 billion for the same period in 2006, he said.

Lenders close a relatively small percentage of the loan origination requests they receive. But it's useful to track this information as an indication of market directions, Davis believes.

"What we think accounts for the huge discrepancy in volume is the larger number of requests we're receiving for new construction loans," he said.

Privately owned since its founding in 1983 as a real estate investment banker specializing in commercial real estate properties, Cambridge emerged in the 1990s as one of the nation's leading senior housing and healthcare debt and equity capital providers, closing more than 280 such transactions totaling more than $2 billion since then.

The company is one of the nation's leading HUD 232 FHA / MAP-approved lenders and also has an integrated debt / equity financing strategy that includes direct property acquisitions and joint ventures; sale / leasebacks for clients; conventional and mezzanine debt financing; and acquisition of distressed debt. Additionally, Cambridge offers a wide array of conventional lending options for senior housing / healthcare owners, including permanent construction and interim loans on either a floating or variable rate basis.

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