Kiavi Breakdown
Origination volume over time, geographic distribution, largest borrowers, and more.
Executive Summary
Founded in 2013, Kiavi has grown to become the largest residential private lender with $4b+ in origination volume in 2023 and #1 market share across 20 different metros.
The company offers a variety of products to investors, including bridge, new construction, and DSCR.
While Kiavi is the largest lender in many markets, private lending as an industry still has a long-tail with some markets, like Houson, Phoenix, and Portland, having a regional operator as the largest in the market by a healthy margin instead of a national player. In 2023, almost all markets had at least 100 different lenders complete 10 or more loans.
At the end of the article, a CSV showing Kiavi’s largest borrowers is available.
Introduction
Established in 2013, Kiavi is a leading private lender serving investors nationwide, operating across 32 states. Headquartered in San Francisco, Kiavi has grown rapidly since inception and raised significant venture capital equity ($350M+) and debt capital along the way.
Kiavi started out focused on bridge loans to property investors, quickly achieving top market share within a few years. In 2016, Kiavi introduced a consumer mortgage product as well; within a year, the company returned to focusing solely on lending to investors.
While Kiavi has grown to be the largest private lender nationwide, the market still supports a long tail of smaller regional lenders. In 2023, almost all MSAs had at least 100 different lenders completing 10 or more loans. To read more about the private lending market, check out our recent piece, 2023 State of the Private Lending Market.
Data Overview
At SFR Analytics, we leverage nationwide deed and assessor data to track the single family rental market. To generate this analysis, we’ve:
Identified and reconciled the entities that fix-and-flip investors purchase properties under to have a complete picture of borrower activity and loyalty
Identified and reconciled the entities that Kiavi originates loans under
Analysis & Results
Origination Count & Volume
In 2023, Kiavi originated almost 15,000 loans. In every month besides January, the company originated over 1,000 loans.
Kiavi originated over $4.2b in loans in 2023, generating over $300m in volume every month besides January.
Most Active Geographies
By loan origination count, Kiavi has been most active in Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Philadelphia.
Geographic Distribution
Kiavi has a strong presence across the country serving investors in almost all major metros. Kiavi has one of the largest footprints across all private lenders.
Metros With #1 Market Share Over Time
Kiavi has consistently been #1 in market share in 15+ metros in a given month stretching back to early 2022.
Gross Margins on Kiavi Loans
Kiavi loans have generally generated strong positive gross margins (sale price less purchase price) of $50k to $150k, but larger projects will have meaningful labor and materials costs that impact net profit.
Top Borrowers
To make the top 100 list of most loans taken out with Kiavi in 2023, borrowers needed to have taken out loans on at least 15 deals.
Anchor had the most overlap with Kiavi, lending to 12 of Kiavi’s top 100 borrowers. Dominion, LendingOne, and RCN were next, lending between 8 and 10 times to their top 100 borrowers.
The full list of Kiavi’s top 100 borrowers is available below:
Note: the remainder of this article is available to paid subscribers, sign up below for access. Paid subscribers get full access to weekly data-rich articles about the SFR market and select additional articles only available to paid subscribers.