The beginning of 2015 has been eventful for the real estate capital markets. While the jury is still out on what comes next, here are the top five indicators of what happened already and what’s coming… Read more »
The dog days of summer seem to have brought more of the same for the rental industry as occupancy hit another high, according to the latest analysis from Dallas-based research firm Axiometrics. August tallied an effective rent growth rate of 5.1%, which was the seventh straight month that rent increases came in above 5%. That growth rate was an eight basis-point decline from July, but well above the August 2014 mark of 4.1%… Read more »
How bad can rental affordability in the U.S. get? Even worse. That’s pretty bad. The number of U.S. households that spend at least half their income on rent—the “severely cost-burdened,” in the lingo of housing experts—could increase 25 percent to 14.8 million over the next decade. More than 1 million households headed by Hispanics and more than 1 million headed by the elderly could pass into those ranks. Households shouldn’t spend more than 30 percent of income on housing, by the general rule of thumb… Read more »
Apartment properties are worth more money if they are sustainably designed—and lenders and property buyers are finally beginning to offer terms that reflect that value. The evidence is just beginning to pile up. For example, the underwriters at Fannie Mae recently began to offer larger loans and lower interest rates to sustainably developed apartment properties… Read more »
Outstanding commercial/multifamily mortgage debt rose by 1.4% during the second quarter, with multifamily debt hitting $1 trillion, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Tuesday. The quarterly rise of 2.4% for mortgage debt in the apartment sector was nearly twice as fast as the overall increase… Read more »