What is the CREFC chart of accounts in real estate?

What is the CREFC Chart of Accounts?

The CREFC (Commercial Real Estate Finance Council) Chart of Accounts is a standardized financial reporting framework used in the commercial real estate industry. Developed by the CREFC, this framework provides a consistent format for presenting financial statements, making it easier for investors, lenders, and other stakeholders to understand and compare the financial performance of different real estate investments. It includes detailed account descriptions and classifications tailored to the specific needs of commercial real estate financial reporting.

Example of the CREFC Chart of Accounts on a Multifamily Deal

The example below shows the line items in the CREFC Chart of Accounts. For Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac multifamily loans, loan servicers typically receive YTD financial statements from borrowers on a quarterly basis. These financials are then mapped to the CREFC chart of accounts for unified reporting to Fannie and Freddie, which can be a painstakingly manual process in Excel:

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In previous engagements, HelloData Co-Founder and Head of Machine Learning, Nicolas Lassaux, has developed algorithms to automatically map borrower charts of accounts to Fannie, Freddie, CREFC, HUD and other charts of accounts for consistent reporting.