Is Builder Sentiment a Better Predictor of the Apartment Investment Cycle?

Builders Predict the Apartment Cycle

Are apartment builders better predictors of the Apartment Building Investment Cycle? Based on the latest cycle at least (a sample of one, admittedly) it appears that they are.

On the chart above the blue line represents the NAHB’s Multifamily Production Index (MPI) which began falling in the 3rd quarter of 2005 and fell for four straight Continue reading Is Builder Sentiment a Better Predictor of the Apartment Investment Cycle?

Apartment Building Investment Rocks Q2 across the US (video)

That happy feet sound you hear is coming from apartment building investors as they see their results from the second quarter:

  • Rents Up
  • Vacancy Down
  • New Supply Being Absorbed as soon and it’s built

Here’s the video report from MPF Research:

And it’s not just the usual Continue reading Apartment Building Investment Rocks Q2 across the US (video)

Local Apartment Building Investment Research Reports For 37 US Cities Now Posted by Marcus & Millichap

Requires (free) registration: M&M Research

Here’s a peek at their Phoenix Charts:

Phoenix Apartment Building Rent Trends Q2 2013

Phoenix Apartment Building Vacancy Q2 2013

Phoenix Apartment Building Construction Q2 2013 Continue reading Local Apartment Building Investment Research Reports For 37 US Cities Now Posted by Marcus & Millichap

Apartment Building Occupancy, Effective Rents and Revenues Charted. How are yours?

Axiometrics was out with their National Monthly Apartment Trends report which includes a couple of cool charts, one is a map of their top 88 markets coded by rent growth (below). The one that caught my eye though was showing Occupancy, Effective Rents and Revenues:

Apartment Building Investment Occupancy, Effective Rents and Revenue

From the chart it looks like the national average of Continue reading Apartment Building Occupancy, Effective Rents and Revenues Charted. How are yours?

US Apartment Building Vacancy Below 5%, Rents Growing at Fastest Pace Since ’07.

Apartment Building Vacancies Plunge to 2001 Levels

 Main bullet points from Reis Report’s Q2 Apartment Highlights:

  • National vacancies continue to plunge, ending Q2 at 4.7%.
  • There was a slight moderation in vacancy compression, following 10 quarters of vacancy declines.
  • With such low vacancy levels, landlords have been accelerating rent increases.
  • Effective rents increased 1.3%, the fastest pace since Q3, 2007.
  • Inventory growth remains restrained with just 10,000 units coming online.
  • Developers are starting to build more properties to take advantage of the tight market conditions.

vacancy below five percent for US apartment building investorsHow are vacancy and effective rents trending in your market?

Apartment rents rising at inflation rate- Freddie Mac video report

In their June 2012 Economic Update, Freddie Mac says: “Over the year ending March 2012, an additional 1.5 million households moved into rental housing. That’s a 4 percent increase in renter-occupied dwellings in a single year.”

The increase in apartment demand has helped to enhance property values, on average up about 25 percent during the past two years from their trough during the first quarter of 2010…

See the whole report here: Rental Markets: A Sign of Strength

 

 

 

Two Key Factors for Apartment Building Investment Growth.

1) The availability of attractive financing. Plus, the spread between fixed-rate financing and actual year one cap rates is certainly the widest that it’s been in recent history, perhaps ever. (There’s rumor that there was a bigger spread during the Roman Empire, but that may just be an old wives’ tale.)

availability of attractive financing drives multifamily business

From a macro perspective, the spreads between the treasury indexes and the premium on multifamily interest rates will almost certainly widen in the near term, but cap rates should remain stable in Class-C properties. They will probably continue to compress to a certain degree for Class-B assets.

2) Job growth Continue reading Two Key Factors for Apartment Building Investment Growth.

5 Tips on how to choose the best internet listing service (ILS) for your apartment building advertising.

With so many online ad sources to choose from, how can you be sure which is best for your apartment building investment? Below Jason Velazquez, VP of Strategic Initiatives at Colliers of  offers 5 tips for choosing a great ILS:

choosing the right internet listing service ILS for your apartment building ads

Does their traffic measure up? Most Internet Listing Services (ILS) will happily provide you with their web statistics. Take the time to thoroughly review any report offered to you before you sign on the dotted line.

Check whether they’re popular in your city. Simply because an ILS is nationwide, doesn’t necessarily mean they have high web traffic in your city. A simple way to gauge an ILS’s regional market penetration is to google the keywords – apartments in city name, and then scroll through the search results until you see their site. Don’t just search using the city you are located in; type other city names that your prospects move from.

If the ILS isn’t on the front page of Google, you may want to find an alternative ad source. Studies have consistently shown the majority of renters look for their apartment using search engines.

Before you run a Google search: Continue reading 5 Tips on how to choose the best internet listing service (ILS) for your apartment building advertising.

Portland Apartment Market to add 31,000 jobs this year, vacancy to fall below 3%.

As the next building cycle for the Portland area is still another year out, vacancy rates are expected to fall to historic lows across the metro. The overall vacancy rate will match the lowest on record at 2.7 percent, while the area’s lower-tier vacancy will fall to as low as 2 percent.

Marcus & Millichap notes that a lack of multifamily construction and the expansion of jobs in the region will be the prime factors behind the extraordinarily high rates of occupancy. Job growth is expected to rise 3.1 percent—from 20,500 positions created in 2011 to 31,000 positions created in 2012. Of particular significance will be the development of a new Intel facility, which is expected to create thousands of construction jobs and spur large demand for Class B and C apartments.

Portland Apartment Building Investment, less than 3% vacancy

Cap rates for trophy buildings are likely to average in the high 4-percent range, with Class A and B assets in Continue reading Portland Apartment Market to add 31,000 jobs this year, vacancy to fall below 3%.

Denver Job Growth catching up with Apartment Building occupancy and rent gains.

Apartment building investment buoyed by job growth in Denver

Video via Property Management Insider: http://youtu.be/uFjpYSbVdRg

Apartment fundamentals are strong essentially across the board in Denver, which ranked among the nation’s best with year-over-year rent growth of 6.5%