Strong market conditions helped fuel a 6 percent increase in multifamily lending in 2017, as lenders provided a record high $285 billion in new mortgages for apartment buildings with five or more units, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's annual report on the multifamily lending market.

"The multifamily lending market in 2017 benefited from improving fundamentals, rising property values and low interest rates," said Jamie Woodwell, vice president of commercial real estate research at the MBA. "The result was larger loan sizes and record levels of overall borrowing and lending. The market remains well served, with 2,554 lenders last year making loans backed by multifamily rental properties. Demand came from borrowers and lenders of all sizes, with loan amounts ranging from thousands of dollars to hundreds of millions."

The top five multifamily lenders in 2017 by dollar volume were Wells Fargo, CBRE Capital Markets, Inc., JP Morgan Chase and Company, Walker and Dunlop, and Berkadia. Fully 58 percent of the active lenders made five or fewer multifamily loans over the course of the year.

The $285 billion in multifamily mortgages originated in 2017 were funded by a variety of capital sources.  By dollar volume, the greatest share, 46 percent, went to the government sponsored enterprises, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.