Renter households on the rise
The Census Bureau released its quarterly report on home ownership and occupancy for Q1 2024. It stated that the rental housing vacancy rate was 6.6 percent, unchanged from its level in the last two...
Multifamily property prices down again in March
CoStar reported that its value-weighted index of multifamily property prices fell 1.0 percent month-over-month in March, the seventh decline in a row. This index was down 11.0 percent year-over-year. The value-weighted index of non-multifamily commercial...
Class A apartments in high-supply markets outpace Class B on year-over-year rent growth
Although it might defy conventional wisdom, Class A apartments in high-supply markets are outperforming upper tier Class B assets on year-over-year rent growth, according to RealPage Analytics. New apartment supply is at...
The sun will heat it
As I have shared before, I grew up in a rural part of California in a farmhouse built in 1913 which was surrounded by 1.5 acres of grapes, oranges, walnuts, and various farm structures....
Studying commercial to residential conversions
The Multifamily Economic and Market Commentary for April from Fannie Mae focused on the conversion of commercial property to residential uses. It looked at different approaches and discussed the factors that may dictate the...
Fannie Mae sees lower multifamily starts as inflation persists
Fannie Mae’s April economic forecast calls for multifamily housing starts to decline modestly through the end of 2025. Single-family housing starts are expected to rise but at a lower rate than predicted last month. Fannie...
MSCI: Multifamily property prices continue to fall
The latest commercial property price report from MSCI Real Capital Analytics said that multifamily property prices in March fell 0.9 percent from their level of the month before. This is down slightly from last...
Remembering Earth Day
I know, when people think of U.S. presidents who made significant impacts on the environment, we think of Teddy Roosevelt and the founding of National Parks. We think of Jimmy Carter expanding the national...
Apartment supply from both sides – deliveries and starts
Multifamily analysts take a look at apartment supply from both sides, predicting the market will work through its current supply overhang by 2026/2027. In his latest blog on LinkedIn, RealPage market analyst Carl...
March is a down month for multifamily housing construction
The Census Bureau’s new residential construction report for March showed multifamily permits were flat for the month, and that was the relative bright spot. Both multifamily unit starts and completions were sharply lower. The report...
Builder sentiment unchanged in April
Builder sentiment was flat in April as mortgage rates remained close to 7% over the past month and the latest inflation data failed to show improvement during the first quarter of 2024. Builder confidence in...
Construction materials prices reported lower in March
The producer price index (PPI) report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) stated that construction materials prices were down 0.1 percent month-over-month in March on a seasonally adjusted basis. The index of components...
Return of the carbon
My office is decorated with comic book figures and movie posters to the point that, during the pandemic when we were all forced to work from home, one customer exclaimed, “you must be working...
YieldPro interviews Trepp Research Director Stephen Buschbom
On April 4, YieldPro editors asked Trepp, Inc. Research Director Stephen Buschbom to share his company's latest analysis of the multifamily sector. Trepp is a data and analytics provider for structured finance,...
HUD proposes criminal records rule changes
HUD issued a notice of proposed rule making to change how criminal records history may be considered in deciding to prohibit individuals from residing in HUD-assisted housing. According to the proposal, the rule changes would...
