Why are Condo Hotel units so difficult to finance?
The number of developments coming online has well outpaced the institutional lenders that have a desire to fund condo hotel purchases. These loans are considered “portfolio” in nature, and will in most cases be held and serviced by the lender who originated the loan, or a number of loans will be packaged together and sold to private investors. Since there is a lack of a true secondary market, many lenders do not actively seek to originate condo hotel paper. It is particularly difficult to finance units less than 600 square feet that may or may not have a kitchen. This primarily affects the conversion market as most of the units are true hotel rooms and do not have the room for a kitchenette. The square footage number and kitchen requirement stems from the older “condominium” guidelines set by Fannie Mae, and many lenders have not updated their own guidelines to accurately reflect the unique characteristics of condo hotel properties. As a result, this is very much a niche loan product.
