Hot Topic: Converting Office Spaces Into Residential Places

By KIMBERLEY HAAS With a lack of housing plaguing the country, it may be easy to jump to the conclusion that vacant offices could be the perfect fit for new apartments and condominiums, but industry leaders say there are a number of considerations to take into account with these projects. Adam Ducker is the CEO of RCLCO Real Estate Consulting, which offers strategic and tactical advice about property investment, planning, and development. They have offices in Austin, Denver, Los Angeles, New York, Orlando, and Washington, DC. Ducker said in a recent interview with The Mortgage Note that the concept of renovating office spaces into residential housing precedes the pandemic, even though it is a hot topic now. He authored a…

Meet The GenZer Focused On Multi-Family Properties In 2023

By KIMBERLEY HAAS The 26-year-old CEO of Alpha Capital Funds has plans to buy multi-family properties throughout the state of Connecticut with the goal of acquiring 500 units by the end of 2023. Tyler Smith, who says he was always hustling, started his career investing in real estate when he was still a student at Quinnipiac University in New Haven. “I was putting myself through school,” Smith said during a recent interview with The Mortgage Note. “I came across real estate.” Smith said he was 20 years old when he closed his first deal. Over time, his original company, Quick Cash for CT Houses, grew. “Once I started doing a lot more deals I scaled the company up. We were…

Multifamily’s Stunning 2022 Reversal Leaves Pandemic Hotspots In The Red

Multifamily saw a stunning reversal in the fourth quarter of 2022 as apartment supply finally surpassed demand, creating a “swift and unprecedented” downturn. A new report from Apartments.com found that multifamily fundamentals declined in Q4, driven largely by limited absorption and supply/demand imbalances. “We ended the year with absorption barely remaining positive and vacancy rates trending upwards. As 2022 progressed, economic uncertainty suppressed household formations which limited multifamily demand,” said Jay Lybik, National Director of Multifamily Analytics at CoStar Group, which owns Apartments.com. “With 2023’s national forecast predicting the highest new supply totals since the 1980s, expect vacancy to rise above 7% and rent growth to push much lower.” More than 95,000 new units were delivered last quarter but many…

Researcher: The U.S. Needs 4.3 Million More Apartments

By KIMBERLEY HAAS The vice president of research at the National Multifamily Housing Council says 4.3 million new apartments will be needed by 2035 to meet demand. Caitlin Walter spoke at the National Association of Real Estate Editors conference on October 13. She is primarily responsible for conducting NMHC’s research on apartment industry trends, according to the council’s website.  Walter said there were 737,000 apartments under construction in 2021. “The issue is that it takes a long time to build an apartment community, and we’re not actually seeing those under-construction numbers turn into completions. And that is largely due to the delays that started during the pandemic that have continued to persist,” Walter said. Walter referred to a study the…

Florida Is The Most Competitive Market For Renters

Florida has taken the top spot as the most sought-after area for renters in 2022, according to new research from RentCafe. RentCafe looked at the 100 largest U.S. markets and analyzed data such as the number of days a rental sat vacant, the percentage of occupied apartments, and how many renters competed for apartments. South and Central Florida ranked highest, followed by mid-sized markets in the Northeast. Miami-Date County is the hottest rental market in the country, with the highest demand for apartments thanks to a huge number of apartment hunters, low inventory, and record-high lease renewal rates. Hot areas like Miami and Orlando are struggling to keep up with an influx of new renters even though they have built…

Multifamily Investment Opportunities Slipping As Property Prices, Rates Rise

Investment opportunities in multifamily housing slipped in Q1 2022, with the Freddie Mac Multifamily Apartment Investment Market Index (AIMI) falling by 4.8% from Q4 2021 and 2.4% year-over-year. AIMI analyzes multifamily rental income growth, property price growth, and mortgage rates to measure multifamily market investment conditions. A decline such as this indicates that attractive investment opportunities are becoming more difficult to find. For the second quarter in a row, increases in net operating income (NOI) were overwhelmed by property price growth and rising interest rates.  AIMI fell nationally and in 18 of the 25 individual markets analyzed by Freddie Mac. Only seven markets experienced growth. Quarter-over-quarter NOI grew 2.5% and was up in every metro. Miami saw the fastest increase…