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Home | Freddie Mac | Green Advantage
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FREDDIE MAC

Green Advantage®

The Freddie Mac Green Advantage® suite of offerings includes Green Up®, Green Up Plus®, Green Retrofits, Green Certified or Green Rebate. These financing programs reward borrowers who improve their properties to reduce their energy and/or water usage by 30% or those who already have green-certified properties and are looking for new financing. Green Advantage works with Freddie Mac Conventional and Targeted Affordable Housing (TAH) cash preservation products.

Green Assessment®
  • Straightforward property analysis to show borrowers how they can save energy and/or water by making property improvements
  • Reimbursements of up to $4,000 of the cost of the report when the borrower closes a Freddie Mac loan
Eligible Loans
  • Conventional and TAH cash preservation (excludes SBL, Seniors, MHCs and supplementals)
  • 7- or 10-year fixed- or floating-rate Freddie Mac Multifamily Optigo® loans

Green Assessment Plus®
  • Highly detailed property analysis based on an ASHRAE Level 2 energy audit
  • Reimbursements of up to $4,000 of the cost of the report when the borrower closes a Freddie Mac loan
Eligible Loans
  • Conventional and TAH cash preservation (excludes SBL, Seniors, MHCs and supplementals)
  • 7- or 10-year fixed- or floating-rate Freddie Mac Multifamily Optigo® loans

Green Up® and Green Up Plus®
Minimum Projected Consumption Reduction 30% of energy or water/sewer consumption for Consumption Reduction the whole property, with a minimum of 15% from energy based on Green Assessment.
Benchmarking Data Collection Require borrowers to engage a third-party data collection consultant prior to the origination of the loan to collect, input and monitor actual energy and water usage through the term of the loan.
Required Third-Party Reports
  • Green Up loans:
    Green Assessment
  • Green Up Plus loans:
    Green Assessment Plus

Green Retrofit
This feature is for deeply affordable properties with energy- and/or water-efficiency improvements already made within the current calendar year or the preceding previous two calendar years from when the borrower completes
Form 1209: Green Retrofits Certification.
Eligible Loans Conventional and TAH cash preservation (excludes SBL, Seniors, Student MHCs and supplementals)
Terms 10-year fixed
Requirements Affordability Test required — eligible properties need to have at least 20% of units affordable at 60% AMI
DCR/LTV Must meet policy compliant DCR/LTV; no adjustment
Time to Complete Green Improvements Two years
Escrow Requirements Funds for energy/water efficiency work will be escrowed at 125% of cost and released as work is completed.

Green Certified
Eligible Loans Discounted loan pricing for 10-year fixed-rate loans if at least 40% of the property’s units are affordable at workforce housing levels.

They must have an industry-standard green building certification:

  • EarthCraft, Southface
  • ENERGY STAR® for Multifamily Existing Building, High Rise, New Construction, EPA
  • Green Communities, Enterprise Community Partners
  • Green Globes, Green Building Initiative
  • GreenPoint Rated, Build It Green
  • Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), US Green Building Council
  • National Green Building Standard (NGBS), Home Innovation Research Labs
  • Passive House Institute US (PHIUS) Certified
  • Passive House Institute (PHI) Certified

Green Rebate
If your borrower does not choose any of the above Green Advantage® options, a $5,000 rebate may be available for a borrower reporting an EPA ENERGY STAR® score.

Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) Financing Consent
  • Can grant consent for Commercial PACE financing from qualifying Commercial PACE programs on loans in Freddie Mac’s retained portfolio.
  • Additional requirements may apply.

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