Charlotte is America’s second-largest commercial banking center, home to one of the country’s biggest financial institutions, Bank of America; soon the headquarters site of another when BB&T and SunTrust merge; and host to more employees of Wells Fargo than call its San Francisco base home. It would be hard to exaggerate the economic benefits the local market secures from this status. One growing but not widely appreciated benefit is the Queen City’s emergence as one of the world’s hotbeds of innovation in fintech, the space in which digital technology and financial services intersect. With support from local financial services giants, well-funded fintech incubators (like Queen City Fintech, hired by IBM to build and run their Hyper Protect accelerators) and a burgeoning start-up community, Charlotte has hatched a small army of successful fintech firms capitalized with more than $2 billion to date. Lately, entrepreneurs in other disciplines have come to appreciate Charlotte’s virtues. Nascent disruptors in the healthcare and electric power sectors are setting down roots in the city, attracted by its low operating and living costs, quality of life, deep well of talent and uniquely collaborative style. The injection of start-up energy into Charlotte’s thriving Fortune 500 business foundation catalyzed …
Lument
Content PartnerLumentMarket ReportsMarylandMultifamilyRED Capital GroupSoutheastSoutheast Market Reports
Underappreciated Multifamily Markets: Maryland Edition
by Jaime Lackey
Although attractive multifamily investment opportunities may still be available in gateway cities, investors increasingly are sourcing deals in secondary markets where land and asset prices are lower, cap rates a bit more generous and an unpicked gem of value-add fruit can still be found on the vine by intrepid late-cycle buyers. Parties looking to replicate past successes may not have to look too far afield as Maryland markets — overshadowed of late by Washington and Philadelphia — offer much of what they seek with perhaps a lower degree of risk. In the last decade and particularly the last three years, the catalyst for economic growth in the Capital Area has shifted from government to high-tech services. As the tide turned, the focus of commercial real estate activity moved south toward Washington’s central core and Northern Virginia. In the process, the Maryland suburbs lost some of their star power. The diminished status of Montgomery and Prince George’s counties wasn’t entirely a matter of perception. Suburban Maryland apartment performance materially underperformed national averages in 2017 and 2018, and the spread widened between cap rates applied to Maryland properties on one hand and District and Northern Virginia assets on the other. Same-store property …
Content PartnerDistrict of ColumbiaFeaturesLumentMarket ReportsMultifamilyRED Capital GroupSoutheastSoutheast Market ReportsVirginia
Washington’s Tech Boom Changes the Multifamily Investment Calculus
Washington and Northern Virginia are among the nation’s most expensive places to rent an apartment, which in part explains the billions of dollars being spent on apartment construction there. But Capital Area asset returns in the post-recession era haven’t clearly supported these decisions. From 2013 to 2018, rents in Washington and NoVA increased at respective compound annual rates of 3.2 percent and 2.6 percent, tabulating Reis data, materially slower than the 4.7 percent average growth recorded by the 50 largest U.S. apartment markets. Likewise, occupancy trends were no better than average, muted by heavy supply, suggesting that Washington NOI growth in most cases was measurably slower than in alternative markets. But everything changed last year. Although Washington has been a technology player for decades, the region’s strengths fell primarily in telecom and defense, markets in which proximity to government was a competitive advantage. But the region’s growing prowess in private applications of digital technology reached critical mass in 2019 with Amazon’s decision to site its East Coast headquarters in Northern Virginia, specifically with a view toward tapping its deep reservoir of high-tech talent. The impact on economic growth in the capital is only beginning and seems likely to fundamentally alter …
Content PartnerFeaturesLumentMarket ReportsMultifamilyNortheastNortheast Market ReportsPennsylvaniaRED Capital Group
Philadelphia’s New Brand Identity in Commercial Real Estate
Interest in Philadelphia among commercial real estate investors has been on the rise for years. But the Eastern Pennsylvania market managed to maintain a relatively low profile in the public consciousness, overshadowed by its larger East Coast primary market rivals, each with its own clear brand identity. But this is largely a thing of the past. Philadelphia has emerged lately as a leader in cutting-edge biotech and life science innovation. The city is a magnet for gene and cell-level therapy entrepreneurs, a status that is rapidly evolving into a distinct brand. Billions in venture capital and real estate investment have followed, elevating the Athens of America to the top rank of U.S. competitors for global investment cash. The multifamily sector is a chief beneficiary of the trend. Fueled by strong demand for luxury space, builders ratcheted apartment development higher over the past 10 years, raising construction starts from about 4,000 units per year at mid-decade to 6,000 annually since 2017. Currently, there are about 8,000 multifamily units under construction, and the pace isn’t likely to slow much this year. The magnitude of the supply surge is anticipated with a degree of trepidation in some quarters. Philadelphia renters have never absorbed …
Content PartnerFeaturesLumentMarket ReportsMultifamilyNew YorkNortheastNortheast Market ReportsRED Capital Group
Expanded Rent Stabilization Law Freezes NYC Stabilized Multifamily Property Market, Generates Buying Opportunities for Intrepid Investors
New York state authorities last year passed legislation designed to maintain rental affordability and housing stability in the Empire State. Mandated changes for units not currently subject to stabilization were mostly technical in nature — relating to rent increase notification periods, evictions and security deposits — but the impact on the New York City’s nearly 1 million regulated units was significant. Previously, an owner’s ability to raise stabilized unit rents was limited by a city board, except upon vacancy or after major property or unit improvements were made. These exceptions were curtailed by the legislation, largely negating the appeal of buying, renovating and repositioning older properties. The regulations sent a chill through the recently hot New York City multifamily property market. Sales volume dropped by half last year to about $3.3 billion, with the largest declines coming after the law took effect at mid-year. Indeed, volume in the typically busy fourth quarter plunged to less than $200 million, the lowest single-quarter sales total since recessionary 2010. Although obscured by thin volume, cap rates appeared to rise. After hovering near 4 percent throughout 2018, institutional B/B+ quality asset purchase yields gapped higher, drifting up to about 4.25 percent at mid-year and …
RED Mortgage Capital: Strong Economy Boosts Boston Multifamily Performance, but Looming Supply Likely to Hinder Returns
by Jaime Lackey
The country’s largest commercial real estate services firm recently selected Boston as its choice for strongest U.S. gateway multifamily market performer for 2020, and with good reason. The Eastern Massachusetts economy gained momentum in 2019, propelled by its world class “Eds and Meds” cluster and resurgent high tech, R&D and financial management communities. Income growth and job creation ran ahead of national averages and apartment markets remained tight and rent growth robust regardless of elevated supply. Investor demand for metro apartment properties surged, especially after mid-year, while cap rates remained accessible by primary market standards, especially in the suburban Class B segment. Metro job creation trends fell into a bit of a funk in the fall and winter of 2018-2019 but rebounded vigorously in the second half. Payrolls increased at a brisk 31,200-job, 1.7 percent year-on-year pace after mid-year, representing the fastest growth recorded in three years. Sector leadership was provided by Boston’s top knowledge industry sectors, headed by higher education (8.5 percent), research and development (9.8 percent), software and computer network design (4.9 percent) and financial management (2.6 percent). Only softness in the consumer-driven side of the labor market – construction, retail trade, personal services and government – held …
TEXAS — Red Mortgage Capital, a division of ORIX Real Estate Capital LLC, has arranged a $22 million loan for the rehabilitation of 14 affordable housing properties totaling 556 units located across 12 rural Texas communities. Existing debt on the properties was also restructured as part of the deal. The borrower was a joint venture between Related Affordable, a division of Related Cos., and the Texas Housing Foundation (THF). The United States Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) provided the loan through its rural development program.
UNION CITY, N.J. — RED Mortgage Capital, the lending arm of ORIX Real Estate Capital, has arranged acquisition financing for a $60 million portfolio of apartment properties in Jersey City, located across the Hudson River from lower Manhattan. The portfolio comprises 18 properties and includes 481 units of affordable housing product. John Darrow, Jim Martin and Harris O’Connell of RED, along with Brad Domenico of Progress Capital, arranged the financing through Freddie Mac’s small balance loan program. The loan, the borrower of which was not disclosed, featured a fixed interest rate and a 20-year term.
RED Mortgage Capital: Intermountain Region Generates Strong Apartment Performance and Value Creation
by Jaime Lackey
West Coast markets garner more press clippings and public attention. But the Intermountain States — Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming — are posting impressive numbers that belie their station in the American consciousness. Offering Americans the sunshine and outdoor recreational opportunities they crave and the lower operating costs businesses seek, the region is in the nation’s sweet spot and taking full advantage of its position. Population, income and employment growth lead the nation. Indeed, the region claims the four fastest growing states in America — Nevada, Idaho, Utah and Arizona — and its seventh, Colorado. Meanwhile, Nevada, Utah and Arizona recorded the fastest rates of payroll job creation last year, and Colorado and Idaho figured in the top six nationally. Apartment rents increased accordingly. Late-cycle bloomers Las Vegas and Phoenix posted the fastest rent growth last year among larger markets and Salt Lake wasn’t far behind. Emerging markets like Boise, Bozeman and Reno were in the same league, chalking down high single-digit increases. Investors competed fiercely for opportunities in the region. Apartment sales volume in the five Intermountain metros (the “Intermountain 5”) covered by RED Capital Research (“RCR”) — Colorado Springs, Denver, Las Vegas, Phoenix …
RED: California’s Southland Economy Loses Steam but Apartment Performance and Property Markets Strengthen; Cap Rates Decline
by Jaime Lackey
Since the Baby Boom generation was in its infancy, Southern California has represented the apex of American popular culture, with its freedom, fun and limitless opportunity. But in the last few years the Southland’s place in the American imagination has been superseded to a degree by the digital prowess of its Bay Area and Pacific Northwest neighbors. Recently, the tide has begun to turn. While still wildly successful economically and culturally influential, the Bay Area, Seattle and Portland seem to be bumping into resource constraints that have dimmed their luster. By contrast, the Southland has found its stride, attracting increasing amounts of venture capital, building powerful digital and biotech platforms and proving a bit more adept than the cities to the north at finding space to facilitate economic and population growth. Venture capitalist Peter Thiel hasn’t been the only titan to notice. The impact on multifamily markets is palpable. Property sales volume records were shattered last year and cap rates fell to historic lows. Investors are increasingly embracing the value-add strategies popularized in lower-cost growth markets, driving prices of aging Class B garden properties higher and fueling faster rent growth in submarkets where the renter-by-necessity tenant predominates. Although increased supply …