We are way ahead of where we thought we would be for the year. We do not see any let up for the rest of the year. KeyCorp's acquisition last year, of National Realty Funding L.C. of Kansas City, Mo. followed by Dallas-based Newport Mortgage Company, expanded its capacity and national presence in agency, FHA and conduit financing and servicing. Additionally, KeyCorp also boosted its existing operations and construction loan base. Multifamily is a very sought after part of the market.
Investors feel very comfortable with multifamily which has performed very well.
On the construction financing side, KeyCorp is holding steady its balance-sheet financing pipeline, says Kevin Meeks, senior vice president and central region manager of Key Commercial Real Estate. The bank, he says, has stopped working to increase the level of its construction financing. We will be steady in the next 24 months as opposed to the past 24 to 36 months when we had been growing. We now have the demand as well as exposure that we want. KeyCorp says it views most construction markets in which it operates as in equilibrium, although it is more cautious in some submarkets.