Investors bet big time on demand for rental properties over homeownership in 2014, when sales of apartment buildings hit a record $110.1 billion, or nearly 15% higher than the previous year, according to Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), a professional services and investment management firm.
Nearly half of those transactions were for buildings in six metros: New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, and Washington D.C. And the allure of owning rental properties in America’s largest cities continues into 2015, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Blackstone Group, the world’s largest private equity holder of real estate, in late January agreed to pay $1.7 billion for 36 properties with an estimated 11,000 apartment units, half of which are in Washington D.C. and Boston. The seller was Praedium Group, which JLL and Evercore Partners advised. The deal increases to 43,000 the number of apartment units managed by LivCor, Blackstone’s multifamily real estate unit, according to Crain’s Chicago Business.
The multifamily sector “has become the preferred asset class of institutional investors” since the last economic downturn, says Jubeen Vaghefi, managing director of JLL’s capital markets division. That opinion is consistent with what Vaghefi wrote in JLL’s Fall 2014 Multifamily Outlook: “The ability for multifamily starts to occur 3.5 times faster than the overall market is due to the combination of higher oversupply of single-family homes throughout the United States, a marked preference for multi-unit buildings, and residential development in core submarkets, which continue to post high occupancy rates.”
The question now is how long investors will ride this gravy train, especially if increasing supply adversely impacts rent appreciation.
The Census Bureau’s latest data for housing starts, which it released on January 21, 2015, estimates that 456,000 units were under construction in buildings with five or more units at the end of December 2014, or 26% more than in December 2013. The possibility that this market may be overheating, though, is reflected in annualized multifamily starts, which inched up by only 0.3% in December to 339,000 units. Annualized multifamily permits issued stood at 338,000 units in December, down 12.4% from December 2013
On a less ambiguous note, rents increased by 3.6% nationwide in 2014, according to Reis, the real-estate research firm. Apartment vacancy rates, at 4.2%, were near their lowest levels in 2001. And the days of excess demand that has kept rents under control “are likely over,” Ryan Severino, Reis’ senior economist, stated.
JLL contends that with vacancies stabilizing and with the market average of inventory under construction at 4.4% and growing, “the pace of multifamily tightening is softening, with projected rent growth between 2% and 3% over the next 18 months.”
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
San Bernardino health center doubles in size
Temecula, Calif.-based EDGE was awarded the contract for California State University San Bernardino's health center renovation and expansion. The two-phase, $4 million project was designed by RSK Associates, San Francisco, and includes an 11,000-sf, tilt-up concrete expansion—which doubles the size of the facility—and site and infrastructure work.
| Aug 11, 2010
Goettsch Partners wins design competition for Soochow Securities HQ in China
Chicago-based Goettsch Partners has been selected to design the Soochow Securities Headquarters, the new office and stock exchange building for Soochow Securities Co. Ltd. The 21-story, 441,300-sf project includes 344,400 sf of office space, an 86,100-sf stock exchange, classrooms, and underground parking.
| Aug 11, 2010
New hospital expands Idaho healthcare options
Ascension Group Architects, Arlington, Texas, is designing a $150 million replacement hospital for Portneuf Medical Center in Pocatello, Idaho. An existing facility will be renovated as part of the project. The new six-story, 320-000-sf complex will house 187 beds, along with an intensive care unit, a cardiovascular care unit, pediatrics, psychiatry, surgical suites, rehabilitation clinic, and ...
| Aug 11, 2010
Colonnade fixes setback problem in Brooklyn condo project
The New York firm Scarano Architects was brought in by the developers of Olive Park condominiums in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn to bring the facility up to code after frame out was completed. The architects designed colonnades along the building's perimeter to create the 15-foot setback required by the New York City Planning Commission.
| Aug 11, 2010
Wisconsin becomes the first state to require BIM on public projects
As of July 1, the Wisconsin Division of State Facilities will require all state projects with a total budget of $5 million or more and all new construction with a budget of $2.5 million or more to have their designs begin with a Building Information Model. The new guidelines and standards require A/E services in a design-bid-build project delivery format to use BIM and 3D software from initial ...
| Aug 11, 2010
Opening night close for Kent State performing arts center
The curtain opens on the Tuscarawas Performing Arts Center at Kent State University in early 2010, giving the New Philadelphia, Ohio, school a 1,100-seat multipurpose theater. The team of Legat & Kingscott of Columbus, Ohio, and Schorr Architects of Dublin, Ohio, designed the 50,000-sf facility with a curving metal and glass façade to create a sense of movement and activity.
| Aug 11, 2010
Residence hall designed specifically for freshman
Hardin Construction Company's Austin, Texas, office is serving as GC for the $50 million freshman housing complex at the University of Houston. Designed by HADP Architecture, Austin, the seven-story, 300,000-sf facility will be located on the university's central campus and have 1,172 beds, residential advisor offices, a social lounge, a computer lab, multipurpose rooms, a fitness center, and a...
| Aug 11, 2010
News Briefs: GBCI begins testing for new LEED professional credentials... Architects rank durability over 'green' in product attributes... ABI falls slightly in April, but shows market improvement
News Briefs: GBCI begins testing for new LEED professional credentials... Architects rank durability over 'green' in product attributes... ABI falls slightly in April, but shows market improvement