The Charlotte economy has created jobs at a faster rate than the national average throughout this cycle. With 34,900 new jobs over the last 12 months and more than 110,000 over the last three years, the regional job market has created a new demand for the luxury multifamily inventory throughout infill and select suburban submarkets. Four of the MSA’s top five employers — Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Carolinas HealthCare System and Novant Health — each have a combined 1,000-plus job openings in Charlotte, while AXA, Red Ventures, Dimensional Fund Advisors and CompuCom have begun major expansions across the metro area. This has created a need for additional multifamily inventory, which has expanded by 7,700 units over the last 12 months, while absorption was just shy of 7,000. The modest downtick in occupancy was more than offset by a 4 percent same-store rent growth (30 basis points higher than the five-year trailing average of 3.7 percent). Two marquee high-rise projects are nearing completion in the central business district’s Third Ward: Greystar’s Ascent and Childress Klein’s Museum Tower. The early returns show unprecedented per square foot rents for the metro area. In most infill locations, developers are offering one month free …
These days, first-time investors in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) multifamily market are in for a bit of education. Misconceptions about the RGV are common due to the market’s actual proximity to the Mexican border and lack of proximity to other major metros, as well as the Trump administration’s dicey relationship with our neighbor to the south. In reality, the area is an attractive, stand-alone market filled with growth potential. Education, healthcare, retail, international trade, agriculture, oil & gas, port activity — the RGV has it all. Hidalgo and Cameron counties make up the fifth- and ninth-largest MSAs in Texas with a combined population in excess of 1.2 million. As a result, numerous investors from larger Texas MSAs, as well as out-of-state investors, are targeting multifamily opportunities in the RGV. ARA Newmark is currently marketing an 84-unit asset at a high-density intersection in the South Texas market. This metro is awash with high-end retail, healthcare and single-family developments and is thus attracting residents from a variety of backgrounds. Within the first two weeks of marketing, the asset drew six preemptive offers from a diverse buyer base that included two out-of-state buyers. The volume of retail growth in the Rio Grande Valley in recent …
Orange County’s well-diversified and growing economy, coupled with its high quality of life, attract residents nationally and internationally to the region. Prohibitive home pricing also intensifies the high barrier to home ownership, further supporting overall apartment fundamentals in the Orange County market. Developers are targeting urban centers where they can transform the areas with Class A rentals. Anaheim’s Platinum Triangle, the Disney Resort, Convention Center Complex and surrounding area are undergoing an infusion of more than $5 billion that is redefining the area as a highly urbanized residential, entertainment and business hub. A similar transformation is happening at the Irvine Business Complex (IBC). In addition to these clusters, about 19,000 units are scheduled to come online over the next few years, particularly in the Class A product category. Rents in Orange County rose 4.8 percent year-over-year through January, outpacing the 4.6 percent national growth rate. Renter demand remains elevated, fueled by a rapidly expanding economy and population gains. Large companies and startups alike are drawn to the market’s highly educated workforce as nearly 25 percent of residents have at least a bachelor’s degree. This reinforces the foundation for the multifamily sector’s rent growth in both “renter by necessity” (students/young professionals/blue-collar/subsidized …
The multifamily market in South Florida is gaining strength but not sales velocity due to converging market and demographic forces. Sales topped $400 million for the third year in a row in 2016, largely because the average price per unit jumped 13 percent to $185,300 per unit. The vacancy rate fell below 4 percent at the end of last year, and rents climbed almost 4 percent on all types of units to an effective rate of $1,351 per month. It’s clear the current upcycle will continue beyond the usual period as immense demand from investors is causing an incredible scarcity of Class A product, and the lifestyle preferences of millennials are intersecting with the luxury condo boom. Opportunities, Challenges In 2005 and 2006, adequate inventory kept the multifamily market in balance. Today, buyers are plentiful, capital is available and interest rates are affordable. What we don’t have is product, a phenomenon not exclusive to Miami and Fort Lauderdale. Why? Sellers have few options. They’re thinking, “If I sell at a premium and I want to stay in a similar market, I’m going to pay a premium. So, what’s the point of selling?” Therefore, owners are putting properties on the market …
PEMBROKE PINES, FLA. — Rockpoint Group has purchased the 365-unit Town City Center apartment complex in the Miami suburb of Pembroke Pines for $87 million. The Class A community is located at 10700 S.W. City Center Blvd. in Broward County’s master-planned Pembroke Pines City Center development. The seller was The Related Group. Town City Center was built in 2016. It is situated on 11 acres near upscale shopping centers, golf courses, restaurants and nightlife, with Miami and Fort Lauderdale just 20 miles away. Pembroke Pines City Center is also expected to deliver a new retail concept adjacent to the property’s waterfront site. The garden-style community offers studio to three-bedroom apartments, as well as two-bedroom townhouses with attached garage entry. In-unit features include patios and porches, washers and dryers, porcelain tiling, stainless steel appliances, and designer vanities. The pet-friendly complex also boasts a two-level fitness studio, pool deck, cabanas, private waterside dock, private screening room and tennis courts. VStarr Interiors designed Town City Center. Greg Engler, Roberto Pesant and Chris Conklin of Walker & Dunlop’s investment sales team represented both the buyer and seller. “This transaction exemplifies strong investor demand for well-located, stabilized core assets across the South Florida multifamily market,” …
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 …
BOSTON — Bell Partners has purchased the 196-unit Olmsted Place apartment complex in the Boston submarket of Jamaica Plain for $103 million. The community is located at 161 S. Huntington Ave. Olmsted Place debuted in 2015. It is fully leased. The community overlooks Jamaica Pond, part of the Emerald Necklace park system designed by legendary landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted. The seller was a joint venture between Boston Residential Group and the Carlyle Group. The JV purchased the site in 2012 for $10 million from Home for Little Wanderers, a nonprofit, then completed the development. “We are thrilled to have created a win for our partnership and for the City of Boston by creating middle-class housing in a community that has long needed it,” says Curtis Kemeny, CEO of Boston Residential Group. Olmsted Place features studios to three-bedroom units. The units range in size from 530 square feet to 1,300 square feet. The community was the first new residential project for several decades in a rapidly improving section of Jamaica Plain. Boston Residential Group is a residential developer with projects in Boston submarkets such as Back Bay, South Boston and the Charlestown Navy Yard. The Carlyle Group is a Washington, …
From the hottest commercial submarkets, such as Downtown Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood, to far-flung suburbs like Lynnwood, the Puget Sound multifamily market has been firing on all cylinders lately. A major reason for this is the huge growth in tech employment throughout the Puget Sound region. Tech employment in the region has grown almost 87 percent since 2001, and more than 80 tech-based companies have opened engineering offices in Seattle in the past five years. Demand for engineering and creative talent has pushed salaries up. Salaries for tech workers in Seattle are 9 percent higher than the national average. Seattle offers the highest salaries in the nation for positions like vice president of engineering ($253,488) and director of product ($228,482). Demand for talent is also having a major impact on demand for apartments. In South Lake Union, where vacancy is 3.5 percent, demand among renters for apartment units continues to be strong. This is driving tremendous interest among multifamily investors. Newly built, high-quality properties like the 282-unit Radius apartment community lease up very quickly. A joint venture between Kennedy Wilson and Lefrak purchased the just-completed asset in February for $141 million. Radius is a prime example of the quality …
In 2016 and the first quarter of this year, Atlanta’s economy boomed, showing several positive signs that point to another banner year for the multifamily market. From December 2016 through February 2017, Atlanta added 96,700 total non-farm jobs, an increase of 3.7 percent over the same time the previous year. Additionally, in 2016 the city experienced 3 percent wage growth overall. This translates to a robust multifamily market with solid fundamentals. According to Axiometrics, Atlanta’s average effective rent broke the $1,000 ceiling in second-quarter 2016 and has not stopped climbing since, reaching $1,068 as of first-quarter 2017. Rents are projected to increase by just under 5 percent in 2017. While the market’s rent growth rate is slowing, we cannot forget that Atlanta is breaking historical rent records while maintaining an occupancy rate in the 94 percent range for the last 11 consecutive quarters. Throughout the city, all asset classes — from Class C suburban properties to trophy Class A properties in the urban core — are posting strong performances. One trend we are keeping an eye on is single-family development, which is starting to come back as rental rates continue to rise and renters look to make a more permanent …