Walker & Dunlop Closes $151 Million Through HUD’s New LEAN Express Lane

The expedited review route maintains HUD’s existing underwriting standards rather than relaxing them.

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BETHESDA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Walker & Dunlop, Inc. announced today that in the last 12 months, it has arranged $151 million in financing across nine healthcare transactions nationwide through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) LEAN Express Lane, demonstrating the impact of HUD’s expedited review process for qualifying Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Section 232/223(f) refinancings.

HUD launched the LEAN Express Lane in 2025 to accelerate financing for qualified lower-risk, lower-leverage skilled nursing, assisted living, memory care and other residential care facilities. The program prioritizes eligible applications by allowing them to bypass HUD’s traditional application queue, which contributed to processing timelines of up to 150 days. By skipping the queue, the LEAN Express Lane is designed to reduce the time to receive HUD Firm Commitment by more than 90% and the overall financing timeline from application submission through closing by more than 50% compared to the traditional review process.

Walker & Dunlop FHA Finance, led by Kevin Giusti, Richie Davis, Daniel Barone, Daniel Adams, and Parker Kent, utilized the new LEAN Express Lane to expedite financing across its nine transactions, with its fastest execution closing just 60 days after submission. The team works with healthcare owners and operators to evaluate transactions against HUD’s eligibility requirements, structure applications and manage the financing process through Firm Commitment and closing.

“The LEAN Express Lane fundamentally changes the timeline for borrowers that fit the program, but speed still depends on knowing how to position a transaction before it reaches HUD,” said Davis, senior director of FHA Finance at Walker & Dunlop. “Our team’s experience with HUD’s Section 232 program allows us to identify transactions that are well suited for the LEAN Express Lane and navigate the process efficiently from submission through closing. Completing $151,000,000 across nine transactions over the past year shows that we can translate this new policy into faster, repeatable execution for our clients.”

The LEAN Express Lane maintains HUD’s existing underwriting standards while prioritizing applications that meet specific criteria related to leverage, debt-service coverage, operating history, quality of care and other measures. Applications must also be ready for immediate underwriting at submission, making early transaction screening and preparation particularly important to achieving the program’s accelerated timeline.

For an example of Walker & Dunlop’s successful execution through HUD’s LEAN Express Lane program, explore our Liberty Shores case study here.

Walker & Dunlop is a leading HUD lender, ranked No. 5 based on MAP (Multifamily Accelerated Processing) and LEAN volume in 2025. Since its inception, the firm’s FHA/HUD platform has closed $45 billion across more than 2,000 transactions and continues to deliver consistent results, with a 99% approval rate since 2021. To learn more about our capabilities and financing solutions, visit our website.

About Walker & Dunlop

Walker & Dunlop (NYSE: WD) is one of the largest commercial real estate finance and advisory services firms in the United States and internationally. Our ideas and capital create communities where people live, work, shop, and play. Our innovative people, breadth of our brand, and our technological capabilities make us one of the most insightful and client-focused firms in the commercial real estate industry.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261021064568/en/

Media:
Nina H. von Waldegg
Public Relations
Phone 301.564.3291
nhvwaldegg@walkerdunlop.com

Phone 301.215.5500

7272 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 1300
Bethesda, Maryland 20814

Source: Walker & Dunlop, Inc.

Key Terms

fha regulatory

The FHA is the U.S. Federal Housing Administration, a government agency that insures home loans so lenders take less risk; think of it as a safety net that encourages banks to lend to buyers who might not qualify for conventional mortgages. For investors, FHA policy and activity matter because they shape demand for housing, affect mortgage availability and default risk, and influence the performance of banks, mortgage lenders, homebuilders, and mortgage-backed securities.

debt-service coverage financial

A measure of a borrower’s ability to pay interest and principal on its debt from operating cash flow over a defined period. It is usually expressed as a ratio (commonly called the debt-service coverage ratio, or DSCR) calculated by dividing the relevant cash‑flow measure—such as net operating income, EBITDA, or operating cash flow—by total debt service (the sum of required principal and interest payments) for the same period. Lenders and analysts may use different cash‑flow definitions and adjust for one‑time items or timing differences, so the exact numerator and the interpretation can vary, but the basic concept is how many dollars of cash flow are available to cover each dollar of scheduled debt payments.