$7.5 Million Fannie Mae Small Balance Multifamily Loan

By Trevor Damyan, Commercial Mortgage Broker at Commercial Lending Solutions

A $7.5 million Fannie Mae DUS Small Loans (sometimes called SBL) multifamily transaction is at the upper end of the Fannie Small program (which extends to $9M). The program offers streamlined underwriting, faster close than DUS Conventional, and competitive pricing against both Freddie Mac Optigo SBL and bank balance sheet alternatives. Most $7.5M Fannie Small transactions are stabilized refinances or acquisitions of Class B garden multifamily in Tier 1 and Tier 2 markets.

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What a $7.5M Fannie Mae SBL Multifamily Capital Stack Looks Like

$7.5M Fannie Mae DUS Small transactions fund as a single senior loan. The competing executions are Freddie Mac Optigo SBL (which caps at $7.5M, putting this size at the upper boundary of both programs) and bank balance sheet.

Capital Source Rate / Cost Size / LTV Notes
Fannie Mae DUS Small 5.75 to 6.10% (10-year fixed) $7.5M / 75 to 80% LTV Streamlined Small Loans program
Freddie Mac Optigo SBL 5.65 to 6.05% (10-year fixed) $7.5M / 70 to 75% LTV Upper end of SBL program ($7.5M cap)
Fannie / Freddie Conventional 5.65 to 6.05% $7.5M / 70 to 80% LTV Conventional programs accept this size with longer timelines
Bank balance sheet 6.85 to 8.50% $7.5M / 65 to 70% LTV Recourse typical; faster close in some cases

Pricing reflects active CLS CRE quote pipeline as of April 2026. Specific deal pricing depends on sponsor, property, and structure.

Who Closes a $7.5M Fannie Mae SBL Multifamily Deal

Typical $7.5M Fannie Small sponsors are private capital multifamily owners with 3 to 15 properties, net worth $5M to $25M, liquidity $1M to $5M. The deal is typically a stabilized refinance or acquisition with planned long-term hold. The Fannie Small program suits sponsors who want streamlined execution at slightly higher leverage than Freddie SBL provides at this size.

A Real $7.5M Example

On a 38-unit Class B garden multifamily refinance in a Sun Belt Tier 2 market, the sponsor was a regional multifamily investor with 14 properties under management. Fannie Mae DUS Small quoted at 5.85 percent fixed 10-year, 78 percent LTV, $7.4M loan amount, with 1 year of interest-only and full yield maintenance. Freddie Mac Optigo SBL quoted at 5.78 percent at 73 percent LTV ($6.9M). The sponsor took Fannie because the 5 percentage point higher LTV freed up $500K of capital that exceeded the value of the 7 basis point coupon savings on Freddie.

Anonymized. All deal references protect borrower and lender identity.

$7.5M Fannie Mae SBL Multifamily FAQ

Fannie Small extends to $9M loan size and typically offers higher leverage (75 to 80 percent LTV) on stabilized multifamily. Freddie SBL caps at $7.5M and typically offers 70 to 75 percent leverage. Pricing varies daily; running both is standard practice.
Yes for Freddie SBL ($7.5M cap). Fannie Small extends to $9M, so $7.5M is below the Fannie cap. Sponsors at exactly $7.5M typically get more competitive Fannie quotes given the program headroom.
Fannie Small typically closes in 35 to 50 days. Freddie SBL typically closes in 30 to 45 days. Conventional execution at this size runs 55 to 75 days.
Yes. Fannie Small finances both refinance and acquisition transactions at the same program terms.

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