Multifamily property price slide accelerates
CoStar reported that its value-weighted index of multifamily property prices fell 1.4 percent month-over-month in January 2024, the fifth decline in a row and the 16th decline in the last 18 months. This index...
Lower multifamily construction spending in January
The Census Bureau’s report on construction spending said that the value of multifamily residential construction put in place in January was down 0.4 percent from the revised level of the month before. Spending on...
Building more luxury apartments lowers rent for all classes
One of ten unintended consequences of rent control, according to the National Apartment Association, is that it reduces developers’ incentives to build new rental housing. Rent control has proven to backfire on...
What will whole building data reveal?
“Don’t be upset by the results you didn’t get for the work you didn’t do.” --Unknown On January 25, 2024, HUD, the DOE and EPA joined forces in a superhero mashup to sign a joint...
Rent growth turns positive in February
The latest rent report from Apartment List shows that the national median monthly rent growth in February was +0.2 percent, the first increase after 6 months of rent declines. Year-over-year rent growth was -1.0...
NAHB: Multifamily housing construction will decline in 2024
Multifamily housing starts are predicted to decline in 2024, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). Meanwhile, the remodeling sector remains on solid ground and will hold steady this year. Multifamily starts totaled...
Fannie Mae predicts a soft landing for economy
Fannie Mae’s February economic forecast calls for a steady decline in inflation while both GDP growth and employment growth remain positive, if subdued. The housing forecast predicts that multifamily starts will be higher in...
MSCI: Multifamily property prices lower in January
The latest commercial property price report from MSCI Real Capital Analytics said that multifamily property prices in January fell 0.4 percent from their level of the month before. Prices were down 7.9 percent from...
Exploring the energy-water nexus
I am normally not a Dane Cook fan. As far as comedians go, I am more of a George Carlin and Doug Stanhope fan. Stanhope’s “Kick How You Kick” piece basically gave me permission...
Yardi matrix reports strong student housing preleasing activity
Yardi Matrix reports strong student housing preleasing in its most recent Yardi Matrix National Student Housing Report. The off-campus student housing sector continues to post solid fundamentals, beating out last year’s preleasing rate...
Multifamily developer confidence in negative territory in Q4
Confidence in the market for new multifamily housing was in negative territory in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to results from the Multifamily Market Survey (MMS) released by the National Association of Home...
Construction materials prices continue to climb in January
The producer price index (PPI) report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) stated that construction materials prices were up 0.3 percent month-over-month in January on a seasonally adjusted basis. The index of components...
Census report foretells multifamily construction slowdown
The Census Bureau’s new residential construction report for January showed rising level of multifamily construction completions. However, both multifamily permits and starts were down sharply for the month. If this trend continues, it would...
Least and most affordable cities for single renters
According to a new study from New York-based listing service RentHop, single renters are faced with widely varying housing burdens dependent on the median rent and income in a given area. Of...
Thar’s Gold in Them Thar Dumpsters!
The Department of Energy (DOE) recently hosted a webcast on managing Scope 3 emissions in commercial real estate. The primary discussion was around trash and how they are engaging their tenants to encourage composting...
