These banks all reported apartment loans on their most recent federal call report, and all have at least one branch in California. Banks are the most common source of multifamily financing — five units and up, stabilised or value-add — and most lend close to their branches, so a lender with offices near your building is usually a better first call than a bigger name without them. Expect a bank to want recourse and, usually, a banking relationship; the capital guide compares the alternatives.
Banks Based in California, Largest Multifamily Books First
25 of 99 qualifying banks are headquartered in California. These are the lenders whose whole business is this market.
| # | Institution | Multifamily book | Share of investor CRE | Branches in CA | Contact |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Banc of California | $5.88bn | 56.6% | 83 | Contact available |
| 2 | Mechanics Bank | $5.07bn | 72.1% | 132 | Contact available |
| 3 | East West Bank | $4.61bn | 25.1% | 68 | Contact available |
| 4 | City National Bank (CA) | $2.70bn | 22.2% | 55 | Contact available |
| 5 | Cathay Bank | $2.59bn | 32.6% | 44 | Contact available |
| 6 | River City Bank | $1.62bn | 40.2% | 9 | Contact available |
| 7 | Five Star Bank | $1.39bn | 44.3% | 10 | Contact available |
| 8 | Citizens Business Bank | $1.23bn | 19.5% | 87 | Contact available |
| 9 | Axos Bank | $1.18bn | 21.8% | 1 | Contact available |
| 10 | Tri Counties Bank | $1.16bn | 28.7% | 77 | Contact available |
| 11 | Bank of Hope | $1.14bn | 19.8% | 26 | Contact available |
| 12 | Malaga Bank | $1.13bn | 96.9% | 5 | Contact available |
| 13 | Poppy Bank | $920m | 31.2% | 45 | Contact available |
| 14 | Royal Business Bank | $758m | 59.3% | 13 | Contact available |
| 15 | Preferred Bank | $586m | 16.3% | 14 | Contact available |
| 16 | Beneficial State Bank | $516m | 78.0% | 5 | Contact available |
| 17 | Commercial Bank of California | $495m | 26.1% | 10 | Contact available |
| 18 | Hanmi Bank | $459m | 14.8% | 21 | Contact available |
| 19 | CTBC Bank Corp. (USA) | $408m | 24.0% | 17 | Contact available |
| 20 | Provident Savings Bank | $398m | 87.4% | 14 | Contact available |
| 21 | Farmers and Merchants Bank of Long Beach | $358m | 8.1% | 27 | Contact available |
| 22 | United Business Bank | $346m | 27.4% | 16 | Contact available |
| 23 | California Bank of Commerce | $286m | 17.2% | 14 | Contact available |
| 24 | AvidBank | $281m | 32.0% | 3 | Contact available |
| 25 | Fremont Bank | $277m | 23.3% | 23 | Contact available |
National Lenders With Branches in California
25 of 54 qualifying banks are headquartered elsewhere but have offices here. The multifamily figure is their national book, so read it alongside the branch count — a large book behind a handful of local offices is a different proposition from a bank with a branch network in the state.
| # | Institution | Multifamily book | Share of investor CRE | Branches in CA | Contact |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association | $107.32bn | 64.9% | 860 | Contact available |
| 2 | Flagstar Bank | $26.92bn | 82.2% | 12 | Contact available |
| 3 | Wells Fargo | $26.55bn | 25.6% | 769 | Contact available |
| 4 | PNC Real Estate | $14.98bn | 40.8% | 56 | Contact available |
| 5 | US Bank | $14.46bn | 34.7% | 564 | Contact available |
| 6 | Columbia Bank | $10.27bn | 52.8% | 105 | Contact available |
| 7 | Valley National Bank | $9.03bn | 39.9% | 3 | Contact available |
| 8 | Bank of America | $8.46bn | 15.3% | 684 | Contact available |
| 9 | Citizens Bank | $8.04bn | 35.0% | 8 | Contact available |
| 10 | Pinnacle Bank (Tennessee) | $4.86bn | 17.8% | 1 | Contact available |
| 11 | EverBank | $4.86bn | 63.3% | 28 | Contact available |
| 12 | WaFd Bank | $4.65bn | 51.3% | 12 | Contact available |
| 13 | Fifth Third Bank | $4.14bn | 19.2% | 86 | Contact available |
| 14 | Amegy Bank | $3.56bn | 23.7% | 78 | Contact available |
| 15 | BMO Bank | $3.16bn | 15.3% | 226 | Contact available |
| 16 | First Citizens Bank | $2.97bn | 13.5% | 55 | Contact available |
| 17 | Sunflower Bank | $2.61bn | 63.3% | 22 | Contact available |
| 18 | Bank OZK | $2.55bn | 14.7% | 4 | Contact available |
| 19 | Amalgamated Bank | $1.86bn | 81.9% | 1 | Contact available |
| 20 | UMB Bank | $1.72bn | 16.1% | 8 | Contact available |
| 21 | The Bank of New York Mellon | $1.55bn | 32.3% | 1 | Contact available |
| 22 | The Northern Trust Company | $1.49bn | 27.6% | 8 | Contact available |
| 23 | Israel Discount Bank of New York | $1.21bn | 29.2% | 2 | Contact available |
| 24 | Banner Bank | $1.03bn | 20.5% | 32 | Contact available |
| 25 | MidFirst Bank | $1.01bn | 15.3% | 6 | Contact available |
What this list is, and what it leaves out
A reported balance is not a credit box. Every bank here held apartment loans on 30 June 2026. That is evidence they lend on multifamily — better evidence than a marketing page, because it is what they actually hold — but it is not a commitment to lend on your deal, at your size, in your submarket.
More lenders exist than this page lists. 153 banks qualified in California. Credit unions, debt funds, agency lenders and life companies also finance apartments and none of them file this report, and plenty of banks lend on multifamily without publishing criteria anywhere. Running your deal through the search covers all of them, not just the banks on this page.
We hold a named lending contact for 147 of them.
Sources. FDIC Call Reports (30 June 2026) and the FDIC Summary of Deposits. A bank appears here if it reported a multifamily balance of $5m or more, or multifamily at 5% or more of its commercial real estate book, and has at least one branch in California. The dual test is deliberate: a flat dollar floor is a bank-size filter in disguise — a $25m floor passes 86.5% of banks over $10bn and 2.2% of banks under $300m — and would drop the community lenders most likely to look at a smaller apartment deal. Multifamily is the call report's own category for loans secured by five-or-more-unit residential property; it excludes one-to-four-unit rentals, which banks report separately. Multifamily book is institution-level and unprorated: no state split of the loan book is published, so a bank lending in several states shows its full multifamily book on every state page where it qualifies. That is why this page separates banks based in California from national lenders with branches here, rather than ranking them against each other on a national figure. Branch counts are offices in California from the Summary of Deposits. Contact availability refers to whether Lender Compass holds a named contact, not to anything the bank publishes.