Construction employment falls in March
The Employment Situation Report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics stated that apartment operations employment rose while residential construction employment fell in the latest month. Overall job growth continues, but more slowly The Bureau of Labor...
Multifamily property prices and transactions down again
CoStar reported that its value-weighted index of multifamily property prices fell 7.0 percent year-over-year in February 2023. This index was down 1.4 percent month-over-month, the eighth monthly decline in a row. The value-weighted index of...
Biden’s veto of Congressional WOTUS resolution a blow to housing affordability
Alicia Huey, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a custom home builder and developer from Birmingham, Ala., today issued the following statement after President Biden vetoed a congressional resolution that...
Rent growth in spring thaw
Yardi Matrix reported that national average apartment rent increased $3 in March to $1,702 per month. This follows two months where Yardi Matrix had reported no rent growth. Year-over-year rent growth slide continues The national average...
MBA forecasts slowdown early in 2023
The Mortgage Bankers’ Association (MBA) recently released its Q4 2022 quarterly databook which contains updated forecasts for key economic metrics through 2025. It still predicts that an economic downturn will begin in Q1 2023. What’s...
Multifamily job openings rise in February despite overall decline
The Job Openings and Labor Turnover (JOLT) report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said that the number of job openings in February was 9.93 million, down 632,000 openings from last month’s figure...
Seattle’s Fair Chance Housing Ordinance largely upheld
A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has struck down one provision of Seattle’s Fair Chance Housing Ordinance while leaving key parts of the law intact. The law was passed by...
Multifamily construction spending rises while single-family falls
The Census Bureau’s report on construction spending said that the value of multifamily residential construction put in place in February was up 1.4 percent month-over-month. Spending on single-family housing fell for the 10th month...
Rent growth rises heading into spring
The latest rent report from Apartment List shows that the national average monthly rent growth in March was a positive 0.5 percent, up slightly from last month’s increase and the second positive month in...
SCOTUS grants major victory for property rights
The U.S. Supreme Court announced that two property owners in Montana will have their day in court to prove that the U.S. Forest Service illegally encroached on their land. It reversed lower courts that...
Multifamily property price decline continues
The latest commercial property price report from MSCI Real Capital Analytics said that multifamily property prices fell 2.7 percent in February from their level of the month before. This was the largest month-over-month decline...
Market conditions begin to improve, though costs and delays remain significant
The March edition of the NMHC Quarterly Survey of Apartment Construction & Development Activity once again found small improvements in terms of more limited price increases, slightly fewer construction delays and some easing in...
Fannie Mae forecasts later recession
Fannie Mae’s March economic and housing forecasts shift the timing of the expected recession to later in 2023 than predicted in recent forecasts. This change in outlook ripples through their forecasts for other economic...
GSEs supply most new multifamily mortgage debt in Q4
A Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) report shows that the government sponsored entities (GSEs), Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, accounted for most of the growth in multifamily mortgage debt holdings in Q4 2022. The MBA reported...
New home sales remain relatively flat in February
Higher mortgage rates and home prices, as well as increased construction costs contributed to lackluster new home sales in February, but signs point to improvement later in the year. Sales of newly built, single-family homes...
