Texas Market Reports

As we turn the page on another successful Manufactured Housing Institute National Congress and Expo, several themes are emerging. From the amount of capital in the market to the changes in the government agencies to continued reforms in financing for chattel, or homes, the industry of manufactured housing heads into the second half of 2017 with substantial momentum, thanks in part to a number of new entrants in the market. A few statistics shared at the conference reveal the interest in the manufactured housing industry as a whole. First, this conference saw the most attendees for a National Congress and Expo since 2007. Second, the first quarter of this year has already seen a 23 percent increase in housing shipments over last year, with year-over-year increases of around 17 percent. There are likely a few reasons for this increase. But above all else, capital is plentiful, fueled by heightened interest in the industry in the private equity and REIT space, as well as low interest rates. With so much capital comes more interest. This interest has led to less ownership by traditional “mom-and-pop” entities and more competition, thus lower cap rates. In some regions, parks trading with sub-5 percent cap …

Houston’s multifamily market appears to be on the verge of recovery after facing considerable headwinds in 2016. Job growth, population growth and faster-than-anticipated apartment absorption in the first half of 2017 are luring investors and lenders back to the region, putting the market on solid footing for future growth. To better understand how we arrived here and to grasp near-term expectations, let’s take a brief look back. The collapse in energy prices and the ensuing job losses of 2015 and 2016 dealt a considerable blow to the overall Houston economy, particularly the multifamily sector. Developers had already started construction on thousands of new units in 2014 and 2015. In 2016 alone, multifamily development had delivered 21,791 new units — a 20-year high. This left a tremendous oversupply of inventory to be absorbed during a period of anemic job growth – only 15,000 new jobs were created in 2016. Supply-side pressure shifted vacancies up and rents down, while investment sales volume dropped dramatically. Today, the picture is quite different. Overall economic fundamentals are steadily improving, taking the multifamily sector along with them. While the energy sector is still in a period of retrenchment, sectors such as education, health services and hospitality/leisure …

For nearly a decade, multifamily financing has had the benefit of the most stable sources of long-term debt, which has kept the investment market strong and the property type in favor. Whether it is agency lending, life company permanent debt or commercial mortgage backed securities (CMBS) financing, there has been a consistent market for multifamily loans throughout the economic recovery. Houston has been the beneficiary of significant capital supporting multifamily investment and development during that time, but there has been some reaction to the slowing growth in the employment market due to the oil and gas commodity price pullback. Construction – New Development The moderate energy downturn in Houston, coupled with the significant new supply of units and softness in specific market segments, has begun to impact the market for multifamily construction loans and joint-venture equity capital. Construction lenders, which normally would be able to make construction loans with 25 percent or less equity, are now requiring up to 40 percent or more equity from developers. Construction loan advance rates have dropped to the 65 percent and below loan-to-cost (LTC) range. Banks have been under pressure to curtail their lending on construction loans and are sensitive to the pressure of …