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Affordable HousingConference CoverageFeaturesMultifamilySoutheastSoutheast Feature Archive

Southeast Enjoys Outsized Multifamily Demand Due to Stellar Job Growth, InterFace Panelists Concur

by John Nelson

The pace at which global corporations are expanding in the Sun Belt is extraordinary. To name just a few companies generating headlines, Amazon is making a sizable investment at its HQ2 in Northern Virginia and new office tower at Nashville, a number of life sciences and pharmaceutical firms are opening in Raleigh-Durham, Microsoft recently executed a full-building lease and commitment of 1,500 jobs in Atlanta and Oracle and Tesla are relocating to Austin, Texas. Researchers believe this corporate migration is a direct contributor to the region’s multifamily demand. Adam Couch, market analyst of asset optimization at RealPage Inc., said that after experiencing a decade of job creation wiped out in March and April, the region is now leading the charge in the economic recovery, which directly benefits the apartment sector. “For the Southeast, after suffering big losses, we’re in recovery mode now,” said Couch. “Local markets are best performing in places like Salt Lake City, Texas, Denver and Atlanta, where [job growth] is only 2 to 3 percent below February levels. The comeback in [multifamily] leasing was concentrated in some of these Sun Belt areas.” Dallas-Fort Worth, Atlanta and Houston led the nation in terms of apartment demand in the …

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Affordable HousingConference CoverageFeaturesMultifamily

Supply, Demand of Affordable Housing in Texas Should Grow in Coming Months, Says Exclusive Webinar Panel

by Taylor Williams

Strong job and population growth over the last decade have steadily elevated demand for affordable housing throughout Texas, and the incoming Biden administration is likely to enact policies that will help developers expand the supply needed to meet that demand, according to a panel of industry experts. The combination of no state income tax and a pro-business climate has driven scads of major companies to relocate to Texas, in many cases from California. At least before the COVID-19 pandemic, the arrival of these high-paying jobs — and the housing to support them — tended to fuel demand for retail, restaurant and hospitality development. It’s within the operations of these properties that many renters who qualify for affordable or workforce housing make their living. Immigrants from Mexico and Central America further add to demand in Texas. But from an economic standpoint, development of affordable housing is rarely feasible without some sort of aid from the state or federal government (or both). In terms of the latter, some professionals in Texas believe that the incoming Biden administration intends to prioritize affordable housing growth through a variety of mechanisms. Announcing: Texas Affordable Housing Business magazine. Click here for complimentary subscription. A panel of …

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Conference CoverageFeaturesRetail

Net-Lease Investors Prioritize Assets Occupied by Essential Retailers, Says InterFace Panel

by Taylor Williams

By Taylor Williams Retail tenants with strong credit, sales and branding have long been the darlings of the net-lease investment market via their ability to unlock value in their underlying real estate. But as the COVID-19 pandemic has battered brick-and-mortar retailers in a plethora of categories, net-lease investors are placing added emphasis on the products and services that tenants offer when targeting new acquisitions. After nine months of the public health crisis, investors have a better sense of which tenants are flourishing in the net-lease space and which ones are languishing. This more targeted, stable approach to investing is joining forces with the unleashing of pent-up demand from the spring and summer months, when capital sources largely took to the sidelines. According to a third-quarter report from Avison Young, deal volume in the single-tenant net-lease (STNL) retail space rose by 13.8 percent from the second to third quarters of this year, though the period’s 329 trades fell well short of the first-quarter mark of 416 deals. As a result of elevated investment demand, cap rates in the market are starting to compress — again with a pronounced difference among retail assets based on their tenancy profiles. Avison Young’s report found …

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Conference CoverageMarket ReportsMultifamilyTexasTexas Market Reports

Multifamily Architects, Contractors Deliver Services in New Ways to Keep Projects Moving, Say InterFace Panelists

by Taylor Williams

By Taylor Williams  Like most members of the working world, professionals who design and build multifamily properties in Texas have had to adjust how they do business and service clients in response to COVID-19. But many of these companies and individuals have managed to do so in ways that haven’t significantly hindered workflow. From conducting virtual meetings with staff or clients to using complex interfaces that allow for real-time illustrations to maintaining strict distancing and tracking protocols on job sites, architects and contractors are finding solutions that minimize pandemic-related disruptions. Some delays in the design and building processes have been inevitable. Job sites sometimes have to be shut down when workers test positive. But these solutions, paired with Texas municipalities’ general recognition of construction as an essential industry, have limited the extent to which public health concerns have pushed projects behind schedule and/or over budget. That’s according to design and construction panelists at the ninth annual InterFace Multifamily Texas conference. The two-day event was held virtually on Nov. 18-19. Rich Kelley, president of InterFace Conference Group, the division of Atlanta-based France Media that hosted the conference, moderated the panel. Conducting Daily Work The pivot to platforms such as Zoom and Microsoft …

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Conference CoverageFeaturesRetailSoutheastSoutheast Feature Archive

Lenders Bearish on Retail Sector Except for ‘Prime’ Assets, Says Expert Panel

by Alex Tostado

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, retail and restaurant space has been severely impacted by government-mandated shutdowns. While some stay-at-home orders have been lifted, the sector has struggled to return to its pre-pandemic norms. As a result, lenders have shied away from retail, whether it be construction, refinancing or acquisition loans, according to an expert panel assembled by France Media, Inc. Retail has “lost a lot of favor” with lenders, said Pierce Mayson, managing principal of SRS Real Estate Partners, during a webinar panel titled “Southeast Retail Investment Outlook: Will Retail Investment Activity Bounce Back in 2021?” Southeast Real Estate Business and Shopping Center Business jointly hosted the webinar on Monday, Nov. 16. “There is still some money out there for retail, but it’s few and far between,” said Mayson. Joining Mayson on the panel were Fred Victor, vice president of capital markets and investment sales at Transwestern; Greg Matus, senior vice president of investment sales at Franklin Street; Jeff Enck, associate director of capital investments at Stan Johnson Co.; and moderator Craig Thompson, partner at accounting firm Carr Riggs & Ingram. One telltale sign that banks are bearish on the retail real estate sector is the fact that …

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Conference CoverageMarket ReportsMultifamilyTexasTexas Market Reports

COVID-19 Further Entrenches Digital Technology in Multifamily Leasing, Management, Says InterFace Panel

by Taylor Williams

By Taylor Williams  The unimpeachable role of technology in multifamily operations has been growing for some time, but COVID-19 has accelerated the importance of these platforms to a level that is unlikely to change even after the pandemic has fizzled out. Particularly with regard to leasing units to new renters and hiring and retaining talented management professionals, multifamily operators have had little choice but to embrace new technologically advanced ways of doing business. And since competition for tenants and staff are equally intense within the major apartment markets of Texas, operators that have developed proficiencies with new apps, platforms and equipment are pulling away from the pack. A panel of multifamily owner-operators and leasing agents discussed these topics at length during the first day of the ninth-annual InterFace Multifamily Texas conference. The two-day virtual event, which was hosted and organized by Atlanta-based France Media, was held Nov. 18-19 in lieu of the fall gathering that usually brings multifamily professionals from across the state together in Dallas. The Customer Side The panelists provided anecdotal evidence of just how important technology has become to the leasing and management aspects of their operations. “We’ve used basic equipment like video-stabilizing pods, which can be …

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AcquisitionsAffordable HousingConference CoverageFeaturesGeorgiaMultifamilySeniors HousingSoutheastSoutheast Feature Archive

Affordable Housing Sector is a Seller’s Market as New Buyers Enter the Fray, Says Exclusive Webinar Panel

by John Nelson

Like many industries, the U.S. affordable housing sector has undergone a sea change stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. Processes and protocols have changed for affordable housing professionals, some perhaps permanently. Closings are conducted virtually and some of the front-end work such as appraisals and subsidy applications look completely different than a year ago. The “new normal” that industry professionals are navigating has had a few stops and starts since March, but the sector is now in a place of relative comfort, and that’s led to investment sales picking up, according to Kevin Morris, senior director of Colliers International’s Affordable Housing Services team. “By trial and error, we’ve had to figure out systems and programs to do business,” said Morris, who is based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. “We’ve gone through these couple of stages, and now we’re at a point where we can implement and have implemented systems and programs that will take us through this particular pandemic. We’re transacting now, and so in that regard it is kind of back to normal.” Morris was one of six panelists that comprised the broker and lender panel at Affordable Housing Southeast, a webinar hosted by Southeast Real Estate Business magazine. Kyle Shoemaker, …

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Conference CoverageFeaturesLoansMultifamilySeniors HousingSoutheast Feature Archive

InterFace Roundtable: Capital for Active Adult Investment is Available, but ‘Fickle’

by Jeff Shaw

While the recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has certainly made life tougher for active adult investors, there is still capital available. It has just become harder to get. “The equity is pretty rational right now. It’s the TINA phenomenon — there is no alternative,” said Mark Marasciullo, chief investment officer with The United Group of Companies, which develops active adult properties. “There is, institutionally speaking, more and more equity piling up on the sidelines. The market’s pretty liquid, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. There’s a lot of capital out there, but it’s fickle.” The comments came during a roundtable session titled “Investment Outlook for the Active Adult/55+ Market” at France Media’s InterFace Seniors Housing Southeast conference. The event was held virtually on Nov. 5 and 6. Marasciullo hosted the session, which invited attendees to openly lead the discussion. Marasciullo noted that continued high housing prices could keep move-ins high for active adult operators. Housing website Redfin reports that home-buying demand surpassed pre-pandemic levels by June. “If you’re contemplating selling your house, you’re looking around and saying ‘there’s never going to be a better time.’ Our industry has caught a bit of a tailwind,” said Marasciullo. “I’m actually very …

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Conference CoverageFeaturesMultifamilyStudent Housing

Student Housing Internet Providers Hustle to Upgrade Capabilities During Pandemic, Says NMHC/InterFace Panel

by Alex Tostado

One of the biggest challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic for student housing internet providers has been upgrading their bandwidth capabilities to ensure that all students in a community have reliable and fast connections. The proliferation of video calling between students and professors during the pandemic has been a major driver of this hustle to upgrade connectivity services. The number of megabits per second needed for a Zoom call is something that today’s networks can handle, according to Daniel Myers, president and founder of DojoNetworks and a speaker at the NMHC/InterFace Student Housing Conference. The National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) and InterFace Conference Group co-hosted the virtual event, which took place from Oct. 19 to 22. The organizations’ physical events normally take place in April (InterFace Student Housing) and October (NMHC Student Housing). One problem that the panelists of the Internet Connectivity and Technology panel spoke about was hosting multiple students on the same network simultaneously. A Zoom call requires two-and-a-half megabits per second to upstream (when the video is input) and downstream (when the video is distributed), according to Myers. “If you have five students on a call and they only have eight or 10 megabits upstream, then they’re stuck …

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Conference CoverageFeaturesStudent Housing

COVID-19 Crisis Brings Student Housing Industry Closer Together, Say Operators at NMHC-InterFace Event

by John Nelson

Author John C. Maxwell coined the phrase “Teamwork makes the dream work,” and student housing operators are experiencing that truism firsthand as they deal with the nightmare scenario of the pandemic and its ripple effects. Closed campuses, virtual learning, COVID-19 outbreak concerns and an uncertain leasing season next spring are all challenges that property managers are tackling in real time. Ironically, industry professionals say that the pandemic may actually be a net positive in the long run as it has forged colleagues closer to one another. Demi Sterling-Kinney, vice president of operations at Aspen Heights Partners, a student housing owner and operator based in Austin, said that she met with her property managers more during the pandemic than she would in a normal year. “I feel like the shakeup was good; It was painful in the moment, but overnight it seemed like we were at war and we were all coming at it together,” said Sterling-Kinney. “It felt like everyone came together to be one team.” Sterling-Kinney’s comments were made during the Leasing & Marketing Spotlight panel at the 2020 NMHC/InterFace Student Housing Conference, a joint production between the National Multifamily Housing Council, France Media’s InterFace Conference Group and Student …

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