Prepared Remarks of MBA President and CEO Bob Broeksmit, CMB, at the 2025 MBA Commercial/Multifamily Convention and Expo

SAN DIEGO (February 10, 2025) – MBA President and CEO Bob Broeksmit, CMB, delivered the following remarks today at MBA's 2025 Commercial/Multifamily Finance Convention and Expo.

Good morning! On behalf of the Mortgage Bankers Association, welcome to the best event you’ll attend all year. We’re glad you’re with us—and I’m personally grateful for your partnership.  

In a lot of ways, the video we just watched celebrates that partnership. And it reminds us of the value of meeting together in person the way we are today at this convention.  

We are meeting at the perfect time. Exactly three weeks ago today, the landscape in Washington, D.C. completely shifted. We’re viewing this as a new era of opportunity—one that will enable us to serve you even better and strengthen the industry and – through you – the American people.  

Part of what makes our democracy so strong is that every four years, we go through a national reckoning to decide where we, as a nation, want to go next. The decisions we made in November are now taking hold in Washington, bringing with them a new set of people, priorities, and policies. It’s our job at the MBA to make sure these changes, this reinvention, help our industry continue to promote the growth that makes America so strong.  

I’ll start by talking about the most important thing in Washington, and that’s the people. The new presidential administration and Congress have brought in a large number of new leaders, including both elected officials and appointed positions.  

We were prepared for this even before the election results came in. For months, we’ve been in close communication with key decision-makers, from the House and the Senate to the halls of the West Wing; from housing authorities to banking regulators. And not only are we speaking directly with the new people in charge—we’re forging even deeper connections with leaders we’ve known and worked with for years. Many of them are now in positions to shape policy at the highest levels. And we’re letting them know that we’re here to help.  

Whoever it is that we’re talking to in D.C., our message to them is simple. Now is the time to invest in communities, promoting vibrant commercial areas and plenty of housing, including multi-family. To make this vision a reality, we need every agency doing its part, and we need every capital source to be empowered. That’s how we build flourishing communities—and we’re telling policymakers that companies like yours are ready to lead the way.  

Thankfully, President Trump and his recent appointees understand this. If you want to address the lack of affordable housing, it takes investment. If you want to convert obsolete office properties, it takes investment. Our communities thrive on investment.  

A key benefit of an organization like MBA is that our size, our strength, bring with it access. Leaders in the Administration want to know what we – and through us, you – think about different issues the nation is facing.  

A great example is Bill Pulte, who’s been nominated as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Bill knows the value of real estate investment, and he also knows how residential, multifamily, and commercial markets strengthen each other. It will be nice to have someone so knowledgeable at FHFA.  

I’ve met and spoken with Bill multiple times in recent weeks, and I’ve come away encouraged by what I’ve heard. I also met with the president’s new Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Scott Turner. He’s deeply committed to making residential and multifamily construction easier.  

These are just a few of the decisionmakers I’ve spoken with to start the new year. And the MBA team is in touch with their offices every day. Across the administration, we’re finding broad alignment about the need to make housing more affordable and commercial real estate more durable.  

In particular, we’re talking with housing regulators about stopping what I call the “HUD-ification” of the GSEs. We should keep them focused on their actual job of improving liquidity. FHFA shouldn’t micro-manage everything Fannie and Freddie do. Nor should they distract them from their core missions of providing liquidity, stability and affordability. What really matters is fulfilling their missions—because Americans benefit when they do.  

The new Administration is also ready to do more with the Opportunity Zones program that President Trump created in his first administration. Key Congressional leaders, like Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott, and members of the new Administration, like Scott Turner, have deep experience with the OZ programs. As a result, OZs are getting renewed interest – whether to provide more affordable rental housing or to help convert obsolete office properties. We’re ready to help make OZs an effective tool to promote investment in our communities.  

The cooperation we’re seeing from the new administration doesn’t mean it is always going to be easy. A week and a half ago, the Administration’s enthusiasm to move fast led to uncertainty around a number of government programs, including FHA multifamily lending. Rest assured; our team was on it. We were in immediate contact with key people throughout the administration, helping them understand the importance of their actions and of our markets. On a real-time basis, we helped you understand where things stood. It is a fantastic example of what MBA does best.  

But we’re not just focused on regulation. We’re also shaping key pieces of legislation. The most important, by far, is the major tax policy debate driven by the expiring Trump tax cuts – something that has to pass before the end of the year.  

We’re telling the White House and Congress that their top priority should be extending the parts of those 2017 changes that promote investment and real estate business stability. Policies like the 1031 Like Kind Exchange, the Section 199A pass-through deduction, and the current treatment of business interest deductibility for real estate are key levers for investment decisions that have been proven to work.  

Commercial real estate is capital intensive, and tax policy is a key element of attracting that capital.  

Now, I don’t know if you remember the tax debate in 2017, but it was intense. This one will be no different. There are a lot of competing priorities, and unlike eight years ago, there’s a bigger focus on deficit spending – which can impact long-term interest rates. Our industry knows better than anyone how important that is to investment decisions. Rest assured that MBA understands your priorities and is working to represent them in the halls of Congress.  

The good news is that we’re already getting a friendly reception. In meetings with key House and Senate tax writers, they are open to our arguments regarding commercial real estate and multifamily development as a driver of the economy.  

But the final details of this tax debate will take months to hammer out and we still have work to do.  

To represent you, we aren’t just acting alone. We work every day with other like-minded real estate trade groups on the range of issues important to commercial real estate -- and we will continue to do so throughout the year.  

Our combined voices are impossible to ignore. And I’m confident that when a tax bill passes, it will respect the importance of tax policy to investment decisions—and communities will benefit as a result.  

So, I’ve mentioned the new administration and the need to address taxes.  

Another big opportunity we see is one we’ve been talking about for more than a decade. The time may finally be ripe for the GSEs – Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – to exit conservatorship.  

I don’t have to tell you that conservatorship was never meant to be permanent. It was always supposed to be a stopgap measure until the situation improved. Well, that day is getting closer. The GSEs are retaining capital, and FHFA has implemented many necessary reforms.  

But at the MBA, we’re more insistent than ever that releasing the GSEs must be done right. There’s too much at stake, and if it’s done in a rush, the results won’t be pretty. We’re delivering this message loud and clear, and we’re making clear what the right kind of release would look like.  

Most importantly, the market needs an explicit government guarantee on mortgage-backed securities. Without it, there’s no way to ensure the liquidity through all economic cycles that supports affordable single-family and multifamily lending.  

The change in Administration, taxes, and the GSEs are all tremendously important to the industry. And we are working on them and a whole lot more.  

We need a vibrant commercial real estate finance market—and we won’t accept anything less.  

We’ll cover all this and more over the next few days. But before I conclude, I want to emphasize that we need your help to make the most of these opportunities.  

Whether it’s tax policy, GSE reforms, or regulation of banks, CMBS, life companies, or others, policymakers and regulators in Washington need to hear your voice. We can do the day-to-day work, but when a vote’s coming up and victory is on the line, nothing is more effective than a message from you.  

I strongly urge you to get involved in the Mortgage Action Alliance. It’s a free grassroots advocacy tool that lets you contact your lawmaker with the click of a button. You can help us tackle state and local policies like rent control and building performance standards, even as you help us make progress in D.C. on issues like permanent tax cuts. The bottom line is that the Mortgage Action Alliance can help you make a difference when it matters most.  

And remember, another way you can make a difference is by attending our National Advocacy Conference in April. NAC will have several sessions on CREF policy issues. Face to face meetings with lawmakers and staff are so effective in making out priorities and concerns heard on the Hill.  

But of course, we know that you make a difference every day. You finance the offices, grocery stores, and hospitals that serve communities. You finance apartments that families need -- whether they’re putting down roots or aging in place. And every day, in countless ways, you make our cities and towns better places to live, work, and play.  

On behalf of the entire team at the MBA, we’re proud to represent you, and we’re powerfully committed to delivering for you. We see many opportunities to directly strengthen commercial and multifamily finance in the days ahead. At the end of the day, everything we do at MBA is designed to empower you.  

And as I close, I want to introduce you to a new leader whose sole job is to help you thrive. As you probably know, we recently concluded a nationwide search for a new senior vice president of our CREF division. It turned out we didn’t need to look that far. The perfect candidate was already working at the MBA—and his name is Jamie Woodwell.  

Many of you know Jamie well. For two decades, he’s served with distinction leading commercial and multifamily research in our Research and Economics group. If you’ve worked with him, you know that few people know more about commercial and multifamily, not just data and markets, but also policy and its impact on your business. You’ve seen his complete commitment to helping you succeed.  

Jamie is now devoting 100% of his attention to your needs. I’d like to invite him on stage to say a few words.  

Thanks, Jamie.  

If you need anything, don’t hesitate to contact Jamie. You’ll find that he brings fresh thinking to the challenges and opportunities we face. And he has an exceptional team of proven leaders, especially Kelli Burke and Megan Booth. I can safely say that this is the strongest CREF Department we’ve ever had.  

And now, Jamie has his first big test. He has to survive the rest of this convention!  

Kidding aside, the next few days are tailor-made to meet your needs. Please, enjoy your time here, and make the most of the networking and dealmaking opportunities. Thank you again for joining us this week—and most of all, thank you for standing with the MBA to move our industry, and our economy, into a bright new future.  

It is now my pleasure to hand things over to your 2025 MBA Chair.  

She is smart, tenacious, and possesses an extraordinary amount of positive energy.  

Her tenure is off to a great start, and I am looking forward to working with her on your behalf.  

Ladies and gentlemen, my esteemed colleague and good friend, Laura Escobar!