At the Mortgage Bankers Association Meeting

Commercial Observer is on the ground in San Diego at the finance conference of the Mortgage Bankers Association. As you might expect, we’re getting the hot takes of some of the most consequential names in commercial real estate lending, including the head of multifamily financing at Freddie Mac. Read all about it — and also keep up with the latest big financing, leasing and sales deals with our new Deals of the Week newsletter.

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— Tom Acitelli, Deputy Editor

MBA CREF 2024: Former PIMCO CEO Warns of the Impact of Industry Noise

The sun was shining in San Diego as the Mortgage Bankers Association ’s CREF ’24’s Monday sessions kicked off. Attendees at the commercial real estate finance convention, descending on the Manchester Grand Hyatt hotel after a night of Super Bowl parties, discussed the not-too-interesting game that made up for it in spades in overtime — as well as Usher’s halftime performance — over coffee and pastries before taking their seats for their own Super Bowl, of kinds. Unlike Usher’s enthusiastic proclamation of “Yeah!” in his hit song, attendees are taking an optimistic yet decidedly cautious approach to CRE in 2024. Mohamed A. El-Erian, president of Queens College llege and former CEO and co-chief Investment officer of PIMCO, was the conference’s MVP on Monday, kick-starting the packed event with the (multi) billion-dollar question of “What’s Ahead in the Global Economy?”

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MBA CREF 2024: 5 Questions With Freddie Mac’s Kevin Palmer

Kevin Palmer has faced stiff market challenges since assuming his role as head of Freddie Mac multifamily transactions in May 2022, just as interest rates began their rapid rise. Palmer, who was promoted to lead McLean, Va.-based Freddie Mac 's multifamily lending efforts after 21 previous years with the government-sponsored enterprise (GSE), spent some time with Commercial Observer at the annual the Mortgage Bankers Association CREF conference in San Diego. He shared his thoughts on the state of the multifamily lending market and the GSE’s new tightened underwriting requirements for broker-involved transactions. The comments have been edited for length and clarity.

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