Apartment Building Permits Rise to Long-term Average while Vacancy Index Remains Low

In their latest apartment building permitting report Axiometrics says: “permitting increased 44.3% or 84,308 units from the January 2012 figure of 274,640 units.” This is very near the long term average of 280,000 units, see the chart:

Apartment Building Investment New Construction Permits

Note that single family permits are still Continue reading Apartment Building Permits Rise to Long-term Average while Vacancy Index Remains Low

Top US Cities for Job and Apartment Building Investment Revenue Growth Charted. Axiometrics via MFE Mag

MFE Apartment Trends posted an Axiometrics chart of the top US cities for job growth and apartment revenue growth for 2013:

Apartment Building Investment Revenue and Job Growth 2013 Continue reading Top US Cities for Job and Apartment Building Investment Revenue Growth Charted. Axiometrics via MFE Mag

MBA: GSEs vital in Ensuring Liquidity and Stability in apartment building investment finance.

The Mortgage Bankers Association is out today with a white paper “Ensuring Liquidity And Stability: The Future Of Multifamily Housing Finance And The Government-Sponsored Enterprises“. (or see the MHN exec sum here) The paper highlights the role of the GSEs (Government Sponsored Enterprises, i.e. FNMA ‘Fannie Mae’ and FHLMC ‘Freddie Mac’) in today’s multifamily finance market and presents five recommendations for the future making their points with a set of charts that demonstrate the size of their role in multifamily as well as the very low amount of bad loans they’ve made in the sector.

  • Our nation’s housing policies should reflect the importance of multifamily rental housing, the range of capital sources that support this market, and the need for liquidity and stability in all market cycles.

Apartment occupancy has been growing while single family has been falling

GSE lending has been the largest part of meeting multifamily financing needs Continue reading MBA: GSEs vital in Ensuring Liquidity and Stability in apartment building investment finance.

SOMA (Survey of Market Absorption of Apartments) charted by apartment type from the Census Bureau

The NAHB was out with their weekly Eye on Housing report and this week’s edition took a look at the Q3 SOMA data from the Census Bureau. SOMA stands for Survey of Market Absorption of Apartments and overall things are looking pretty positive for developers. One interesting chart they had showed the types of properties that were being built since 2005:

Apartment Building Investment since 2005 by type

Condos and co-op deliveries are Continue reading SOMA (Survey of Market Absorption of Apartments) charted by apartment type from the Census Bureau

Apartment Building Investment Cycle Analysis via Dividend Capital. Can this be right?

Dividend Capital’s Q3 Market Cycle Monitor Report is out and naturally I looked at the apartment building investment cycle chart first. Specifically these days I’m looking to see where the author, Glenn R. Mueller Ph.D. has placed the Seattle market in the cycle.

US Q3 apartment building investment cycle analysis from Dividend Capital

In this latest report you can see that it is listed at position 2 with only Norfolk listed lower at position 1. What does position 2 signify? According to the good Doctor, position 2 lies in the Phase 1 – Recovery Quadrant defined as having “No New Construction” and position 2 specifically having “Negative Rental Growth”. But how can this be? Continue reading Apartment Building Investment Cycle Analysis via Dividend Capital. Can this be right?

Some perspective on New Apartment Building Unit Starts: Census Bureau’s stats charted by the NAHB

The NAHB is out this morning with a chart that gives some perspective on apartment building investment starts. The Census Bureau reported 285,000 unit starts in October for 5+ unit buildings. At that rate it looks like we’re just returning to what was a sustainable level of starts in the ’97-’06 period.

Apartment Building Investment Starts Returning to Sustainable Level
Census Bureau data plotted by the NAHB

While developers tend to overshoot the sustainable level (which is where the apartment building investment cycle comes from) the hope is that Continue reading Some perspective on New Apartment Building Unit Starts: Census Bureau’s stats charted by the NAHB

Risks to Apartment Overbuilding Averted, For Now says ReisReports

In a piece just out today ReisReports says that new apartment starts have been postponed to 2014 by many developers.

The “bubble” now shows up in 2014, but if economic growth ramps up, then additional supply will most likely be absorbed relatively painlessly.

But not all Metros escape. The report mentions Washington DC and suburban Maryland as two of those who will still see large increases in supply next year.

US Apartment Market moves big supply increase to 2014

Interestingly they name Seattle as a market that should be able to absorb the new supply coming because Continue reading Risks to Apartment Overbuilding Averted, For Now says ReisReports

The Point of Maximum Pessimism and Apartment Building Investments via Alhambra Investment Partners

Very nice piece from Joseph Y. Calhoun over at Alhambra Investment Partners covering some of the unexpected good things that could happen to our economy entitled Looking For Silver Linings. He includes this nugget with its implication of a good apartment building investment climate continuing:

In the ten years prior to the recession, household formation averaged 1.5 million per year. From 2007 to 2010 that rate was cut by 2/3. Household formation recovered to a bit over 1 million in 2011 and probably rose more this year. Still there is a gap of about 2.5 million households between the number formed in that period and what would be expected based on demographic trends. There is pent up demand for housing (although probably primarily rental housing) that only awaits some job growth to be realized. [Emphasis mine]

Household Formation Recovery Good for Apartment Building Investment

Even if Continue reading The Point of Maximum Pessimism and Apartment Building Investments via Alhambra Investment Partners

The Seasonal Effects on Apartment Building Effective Rents, Occupancy and Revenue Growth. Plus much more…

Axiometrics’ monthly apartment building investment report has a great chart showing the seasonal effects on effective rent, occupancy rate and revenue growth. How do you model seasonality in your budgets? What do you think is the best way to do this?

Seasonal Effects on Apartment Building Investment Results
Source: Axiometrics Inc.

Their report this month also has a very Continue reading The Seasonal Effects on Apartment Building Effective Rents, Occupancy and Revenue Growth. Plus much more…

The State of US Commercial Real Estate, Single Family and Apartment Building Investment Markets. By Tom Barrack, Colony Capital

Tom Barrack of Colony Capital on what’s really happening in US real estate from an investor’s perspective. The clearest, most cogent look at the state of commercial, multifamily and single family markets today and where the opportunities are. The first five and a half minutes is about Europe and the bottom line there is don’t but after that it is all gold. If Tom wanted to be one of those real estate ‘gurus’ he could package this video with a big notebook and some advertising and sell it for $10,000- and it would be better than any of the other stuff out there. And you get it for free. I’ve watched three times and get an extra little nugget each time.

The state of real estate in the US, commercial, single family and apartment building investment
Click on the image to view the Bloomberg video.

The big takeaway for me is that (temporarily at least) Continue reading The State of US Commercial Real Estate, Single Family and Apartment Building Investment Markets. By Tom Barrack, Colony Capital