Tag Archives: Rental Properties

In its mid-year multifamily outlook for 2013, Freddie Mac notes that multifamily market fundamentals such as rents and vacancies continue to improve, with New York, San Francisco, Denver, Seattle, and Los Angeles all seeing marked growth. At the same time, supply presents a problem, the analysts said. While starts have seen growth over the last several years, completions are still lagging, and the gap between the two measures continues to grow wider.

Carrington Technology Solutions, LLC and Equator Business Solutions announced the commercial availability of RentPointe, Carrington's proprietary software application designed to meet the complexities of managing diverse portfolios of single-family rental properties.

Apartment markets improved in April in all categories, according to the National Multi Housing Council's (NMHC) April Quarterly Survey of Apartment Market Conditions. All four of the survey's indexes--Market Tightness, Sales Volume, Equity Financing, and Debt Financing--came in above 50, which marks the point between improving and deteriorating conditions. April's gains reverse findings made in January, when Market Tightness and Sales Volume dropped below 50 for the first time since 2010.

The U.S. commercial real estate (CRE) market continued to look better in the first quarter of 2013, according to CBRE Group, Inc. The latest analysis from the CRE services and investment firm shows vacancy levels dropping or remaining level across all commercial sectors as demand continues to rise. Retail locations and warehouse buildings had their best quarter in terms of vacancy/availability declines in several years "as a result of a more confident consumer," CBRE Group reports.

In its latest US Housing Market Update, Capital Economics addresses the uneven gains seen between home purchase prices and rent costs over the last year. (The report cites January data from CoreLogic, which shows prices rising 9.8 percent year-over-year with rents rising only 2.7 percent in the same period.) The disparity is weighing on rental yields, threatening to drive out investors in a market still heavily reliant on them. However, property economist Paul Diggle sees no reason to worry just yet.

Data from Trulia shows that once all costs are factored, buying a home is 44 percent cheaper than renting at this point.

The Census Bureau and HUD released the results of its new 2012 Rental Housing Finance Survey, revealing that one in five American households live in multifamily rental buildings. The survey, which was conducted in the winter and early spring of 2012, found that there are nearly 2.3 million multifamily rental properties in the United States, 67 percent of which are owned by households or individuals. Among other findings: 1,337, or 59.4 percent, of multifamily rental properties examined in the survey have at least one mortgage.

House prices increased 9.7 percent year-over-year in January, continuing a recent trend, and prices show "no signs of an imminent slowdown," according to Capital Economics.

Major commercial real estate (CRE) sectors continue to improve, albeit at a slow pace, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) said in its latest quarterly CRE forecast. The outlook, published by NAR's Research Division, projects national vacancy rates to decline across all commercial sectors in the next year, with the largest drop hitting the office sector as "gradual economic improvement and job creation [drive] absorption of space." The multifamily market is forecast to see the smallest decline in vacancy rates as space remains tight.

FHFA's inspector general says in a new report that the agency needs to provide better guidance for investigators examining the GSEs' multifamily loan portfolios.