Transaction Trends: Velocity, Capital, and Cap Rate Co...
John Sebree, a national director with Marcus & Millichap, looks at the dynamics at play in today’s transaction market as capital flows and investors increasingly chase yield into secondary and tertiary markets, pushing cap rates down a little more each day. Read full story
Fed holds rates, signals potential increase in Dec.
The Federal Reserve has left interest rates unchanged but says it will consider an increase at December’s meeting. The Federal Open Market Committee has dropped a warning that global financial and economic developments might “restrain economic activity somewhat.” Read full story
Axio: Strongest Apartment Market in 9 Years
Rent growth hits 2006 levels, while occupancy reaches 2001 milestones. MFE’s Les Shaver looks at the highlights. Read full story
MPF: Effective Rent for New Residents Hits 5.9% in 3Q
Occupancy tightens to 96.1% as the strong 2015 growth continues. Les Shaver looks at the MPF report. Read full story
2015 Poised to Be Busiest Year Ever for Multifamily Sa...
With apartment transactions continuing to keep a torrid pace, industry analysts predict 2015 will go down as the most-active multifamily investment year ever. Read full story
Student housing strong despite huge new supply
Student-housing properties are fully occupied and delivering solid rent growth for this school year after a surge of development over the last two years that delivered 110,800 new beds, according to Axiometrics statistics. It was unclear whether all of these beds would be filled, but Axiometrics expects occupancy to end up around 96% for September — an improvement from 94.4% in August 2014, according …
Real estate will deliver long-term returns, expert say...
The decision not to raise interest rates this month doesn’t come as a surprise and they will inevitably go up, according to a podcast interview with Mark Roberts, head of strategy and research with Deutsche Asset Management. Real estate fundamentals are sound and should continue to deliver “at least average long-term returns,” he says. Read full story
Apartment Rents Grow Faster Than Incomes
The average employee isn’t getting a big raise this year—but apartment rents are growing more quickly than ever. Find out how this trend is affecting both market-rate and lower-income renters. Read full story
Q2 GDP revised upward to 3.7%
The US economy expanded at the rate of 3.7% in the second quarter, according to a revised estimate by the Commerce Department. The original estimate of 2.3% was boosted by business investment, inventories, government spending and consumer spending. Imports were revised downward. Read full story
Yuan devaluation puts expectations of Fed rate hike in...
Growing belief in U.S. markets that the Federal Reserve is getting closer to raising interest rates, possibly as soon as September, dissipated Tuesday when China devalued the yuan. If global equity markets keep falling, the Fed could decide to delay raising rates. CME Group’s FedWatch, which tracks futures pricing, says investors see a 39% chance of a rate increase in September, down from last …
Rising Interest Rates and Seniors Housing: How Big a T...
For seniors housing, higher interest rates will change the economics of a transaction and will cause some investors and lenders to reconsider deals and opportunities Read full story
2015’s Apartment Sales on Pace to Beat 2006
Despite a slowing second quarter for mid- and high-rise deals, transactions increased in the first half. MFE’s Les Shaver reports. Read full story
Fed requires major banks to hold more capital
The eight biggest banks in the U.S. have to hold significantly more capital to protect themselves from collapse under rules finalized by the Federal Reserve. Janet Yellen, head of the central bank, said the rules mean the firms must “either hold substantially more capital, reducing the likelihood that they will fail, or else they must shrink their systemic footprint, reducing the harm that their …
Class B Offers Choice Investments
They may not be the prettiest of properties, but B and C developments can yield attractive returns. Read full story.
Eurozone leaders back Greek rescue plan
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras have hammered out a rescue agreement for Greece that is unanimously supported by other eurozone leaders. European Council President Donald Tusk tweeted that a rescue program is ready and includes “serious reforms [and] financial support.” Read full story
IMF reiterates call for Fed to delay interest-rate hik...
The International Monetary Fund called on the Federal Reserve to delay raising interest rates until next year, warning that premature action could undermine the U.S. economy. The Fed has been signaling an increase this year, with strong June employment numbers strengthening its hand. Read full story
Greek Debt Crisis: Bad News for Greece, Good New for U...
U.S. real estate economists say the possibility of a “Grexit” will not have any substantial impact on commercial real estate investment in the U.S., and if it will, the impact is likely to be positive. Read full story
Fed cuts economic-growth forecast but plans rate incre...
Federal Reserve officials said they expect slower growth in the economy than previously anticipated but indicated they still plan to raise interest rates in coming months. Policymakers predicted the U.S. will have its lowest annual growth since 2011. The central bank left its key interest rate close to zero. Read full story
Q1 GDP contracts 0.7%
The U.S. economy contracted an annualized 0.7% in the first quarter, according to the Commerce Department, which had estimated 0.2% growth. Reasons for the decline include a bigger trade gap, slower consumer spending and harsh winter weather. Economists expect 2% expansion this quarter. Read full story
Yellen, Cleveland Fed chief see rate hike in the offin...
The Federal Reserve will begin raising rates this year if unemployment continues to fall and inflation moves up, Chairwoman Janet Yellen said Friday. It will be several years before the federal funds rate would return to a normal, longer-run level, she said. Loretta Mester, president of the Cleveland Fed, said Monday that rising inflation and strong employment growth are creating the conditions for the …
Multifamily Developers Favor Downtown, But Suburbia Ho...
In the midst of the Great Recession, vacancy in the multifamily sector hit a cyclical high of 8.0 percent. Over the next several years, the vacancy rate nearly halved, reaching 4.1 percent in early 2014. Vacancy now stands at 4.2 percent as of the end of the first quarter, where it has plateaued for 12 straight months. Read full story
Investment managers urge REIT investors to stay the co...
REITs have been one of the best-performing asset classes for the last several years, with the S&P Global REIT posting nearly 140% in returns since March 2009. However, there are fears that the expected rise in interest rates will slow momentum and cause investors to flee. Investment managers such as Wells Fargo and State Street are advising shareholders to stay put as REIT fundamentals …
Report: U.S. wages fall short of rent costs
Workers earning the state or federal minimum wage cannot afford a market-rate one-bedroom apartment in any state in the U.S. unless they work 86 hours per week, finds a report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition. The average U.S. hourly wage falls $4 short of the amount needed to work full time and afford a two-bedroom apartment. Read full story
Fed officials say June is too soon to raise rates
Most Federal Reserve policymakers said at last month’s meeting that June would likely be too soon to start raising interest rates, minutes show. Officials predict a rebound after the slow start to the year, and most are ready to raise rates once data confirm that the economy is on solid ground. Read full story
Commercial real estate sales jump 45% in first quarter
Commercial real estate transactions rose 45% in the first quarter by dollar volume, reaching $129 billion, according to Real Capital Analytics. Deals in the pipeline for the second quarter suggest it will wind up being one of the largest on record, the firm said. The competition for properties is making it difficult to acquire single assets, insiders say. Read full story
3 Things That Have Changed the Industry Over the Past ...
Multifamily experts weigh in on what they believe has changed the apartment rental industry for both better and worse. Read full story
10-year Treasury yield rises amid global selloff
Yield on 10-year Treasurys hit a six-month high today as the rout in global debt markets continues. Goldman Sachs attributes the trend to overblown expectations for the European Central Bank’s quantitative-easing program. Read full story
Cap Rate Variations
Everyone in real estate knows how to calculate a cap rate — or do they? Read full story
U.S. office deliveries outpaced demand in Q1
Delivery of new office space, totaling 15 million square feet nationwide, exceeded quarterly office demand in the first quarter of 2015, according to CoStar office market data. Total net absorption registered just over 12 million square feet. Read full story
CoStar Group Buying Apartment Finder to Pair With Apar...
CoStar Group announced an agreement to acquire Apartment Finder and pair the apartment listing website with its Apartments.com service, operating the online brands as separate, complementary services with both sites powered by CoStar’s multifamily information. Read full story
CBDs: The New Low-Barrier-to-Entry Multifamily Markets
Downtown areas can be difficult places to build apartments simply because there is limited land for new construction projects. But in recent years, developers have been highly motivated to overcome the barriers to build downtown, where their new communities can be within walking distance of jobs, shopping and transportation. City governments have also seized the opportunity to bring new economic activity downtown and have …
First Quarter Rent Growth Highest Since 2006
Jay Denton from Axiometrics takes a guest turn on our site to look at how, coming off a stronger-than-expected 2014, the apartment market continued its upward trend to start 2015. Read full story
M&As will continue to define the REIT industry, e...
Mergers and acquisitions will continue to characterize the REIT industry, according to speakers at the NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate’s annual REIT symposium. Factors driving the trend include the rise of activist investors and a surge in investor interest in commercial real estate. With new entrants to the industry, however, the overall number of REITs could stay largely the same, said Michael Kirby, …
CMBS Delinquency Rate Stopped Falling in March
The improvement in the CBMS market faced a small roadblock in March, as the delinquency rate for CMBS loans stopped falling after four consecutive months of decreases. Read full story
Fed edges closer to raising rates
The Federal Reserve signaled an increased likelihood of raising interest rates but said it has a less optimistic view of where the U.S. economy is headed. The policy committee said economic expansion has slowed due to a sluggish housing market and feeble export growth. The Fed said it won’t raise rates in April. Read full story
For Foreign Investors, U.S. Assets Are Attractive and ...
Now that the United States economy is back on its feet, and the U.S. is once again proving to be a safe investment in the midst of a volatile world, foreign investors are investing billions of dollars in real estate here. The continuing influx of foreign money—including Chinese, Korean, Japanese, European, Mexican and Canadian buyers—is not only creating competition for key assets, especially in the …
Chain Retailers’ Store Opening Plans Remain Healthy, R...
It seems that in spite of a recent spate of bad news from some mid-market retailers, the retail sector overall continues on a stable course, according to the March “National Retailer Demand Monthly” report from RBC Capital Markets. Read full story
More Demand, Less Supply for Student Housing in 2015
The student housing business faced declining college enrollment in 2014. At the same time, developers finished more purpose-built student housing properties than ever before. But these new student housing communities leased up very quickly anyway. Read full story
10 Cities With Skyrocketing Rent
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Cap Rate Limbo: How Low Can They Go?
Already at historic lows, cap rates may yet be pushed lower this year amid an overheated investment environment. Read full story
