Refinance apartment building: what the multifamily lenders publish

What each firm publishes

How to price an apartment refinance

1. Count the units before anything else. Five units is the line that separates residential from commercial underwriting in most programmes. Commercial Lending USA publishes up to 80% for one-to-four unit residential and 75% for small commercial of five or more, and marks the latter 'Limited'.
2. Get the rent roll and the T-12 ready. Multifamily underwriting is arithmetic on the operating statement: trailing twelve months of income and expenses, a current rent roll and a market vacancy assumption the lender will impose whatever yours says.
3. Decide whether you want agency debt. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac multifamily programmes are the cheapest long money in this market and the most prescriptive; the firms in this record cite a 1.25 coverage floor on agency multifamily.
4. Ask what happens to your leverage on cash-out. Every firm here that separates the two publishes a lower maximum for cash-out than for rate-and-term. LendingOne is explicit: 80% on rate-and-term, 75% on cash-out.

What the multifamily maximums are

Read on 10 September 2026. LendingOne, for its own programme, publishes up to 80% LTV on purchase or rate-and-term refinance and up to 75% on cash-out, plus portfolio and blanket rental loans at often up to about 75% on five to ten year terms. Lendmire publishes 75% as its maximum cash-out LTV with a 700+ FICO. Commercial Lending USA's programme table prints up to 80% on one-to-four unit residential, 75% to 80% on warrantable condos and 75% on small commercial of five or more units.

Describing the market rather than themselves: Commercial Loan Direct and Unconventional Lending both publish a typical cap of 75%, and Commercial Mortgage Broker publishes CMBS conduit lenders up to 75% and sometimes 80% on select asset classes.

The five-unit line

Nothing changes an apartment refinance more than crossing from four units to five. Below it the loan is underwritten broadly like residential investment property, with the borrower's credit doing real work and one-to-four unit programmes reaching 80%. At five and above it becomes commercial: the property's operating statement carries the file, the leverage comes down, and the lender's appetite narrows, which is what Commercial Lending USA is signalling by marking its small commercial coverage 'Limited'.

If your building is close to that line, it is worth knowing which side of it every quote you receive is priced on.

Whose number is it, and why the question matters

The one thing to check on any published number in this market is who it is about. A firm stating its OWN credit box is telling you what it will do; a firm stating what lenders generally require is describing a market it does not control. Of the 8 firms in this record publishing a maximum loan-to-value, 3 are speaking for themselves and 5 are describing the market, and every figure on this site says which. A borrower who reads the second kind as an offer will be disappointed at underwriting, and that is the commonest way a commercial refinance goes wrong before it starts.

What a refinance costs to close

A commercial refinance carries closing costs a residential one does not, and they are due whether or not the loan closes. Expect a commercial appraisal, a Phase I environmental report, a survey, title work, lender legal fees and origination points, and expect the lender to order most of them rather than let you shop. On top of that sits whatever the existing loan charges to leave: a prepayment penalty, a step-down, yield maintenance, or defeasance on securitised debt, which is the expensive one. None of it appears in a loan-to-value figure.

Questions borrowers ask before they apply

What LTV can I refinance an apartment building at?

The five firms in this record covering apartments all publish a maximum: up to 80% on rate-and-term for one-to-four units or from LendingOne's own programme, and 75% is the common figure for cash-out and for buildings of five units or more.

What is the minimum DSCR on a multifamily refinance?

The firms here cite around 1.25 as the conventional and agency multifamily floor, with some programmes stated as low as 1.00 on stronger files. Nobody in this record publishes a floor below that.

Does five units really change the loan?

Yes, and more than anything else. Below five it is underwritten broadly as residential investment; at five and above the operating statement carries the file, the leverage comes down and fewer lenders participate.

Other property types in the record

• Commercial property: what the lenders who refinance it actually require
• Apartment buildings: what the lenders who refinance it actually require