Multifamily

By Brad Frisby, associate, NAI Rio Grande Valley As the national economy and society as a whole move toward recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, multifamily investors of all varieties, eager to deploy capital into the space, are increasingly looking at markets in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV). While the region’s multifamily investment market has unquestionably experienced its share of decreased activity over the past 15 months, deal volume and velocity have really picked back up through the first two quarters of 2021. Many investors that are targeting the RGV are banking on its solid fundamentals holding through the recovery and are eyeing deals with five- to 10-year holding strategies in mind. Although the RGV remains something of a seller’s market — many multifamily deals are trading at sub-6-percent cap rates — buyers are willing to pony up to be in this high-growth market. This holds especially true when one considers the RGV as an alternative to Dallas, Houston or Austin. But it’s precisely from those markets that we continue to see an influx of capital looking for multifamily deals. Prior to the pandemic, the annual combination of limited new deliveries and steady job growth in resilient industries like healthcare, education …

By Sean Sorrell, senior managing director, JLL Last year, San Antonio’s multifamily  sector was one of the only markets nationally in which the 2020 absorption exceeded that of previous years. Moreover, the city’s development pipeline was already contracting after 2019, so additional supply reductions in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19 should result in rebounding occupancy across the metro. The market is maintaining balance in terms of supply and demand and is poised to elevate its national prominence. The San Antonio multifamily market ‘s overall inventory is approaching 185,000 units, having grown by roughly 8 percent over the last two years. Ongoing supply growth has marginally outpaced demand, but even in the face of COVID-19, the overall market is approximately 92 percent occupied. JLL’s research shows that nationally, more than 6 percent of apartment renters have vacated their units since April 2020, either moving back in within parents or “coupling up” with roommates. San Antonio experienced very little of this effect, with an occupancy loss of less than 1 percent due to this temporary phenomenon. These displaced renters are likely to re-enter the apartment market in the near term, and, with ongoing in-migration, we anticipate the San Antonio market should …

By Taylor Williams The past 12 months have thrown multifamily developers a full nine innings’ worth of curveballs, and while many owner-operators have successfully adjusted to the various challenges brought on by the pandemic, they are still tasked with figuring out how much staying power these disruptions will ultimately have. To be sure, the major markets of Texas remain well-positioned for multifamily growth. Even amid a global health crisis, the Lone Star State has maintained its status as a national leader in population growth, having added 374,000 residents between July 2019 and 2020, according to the most current data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The reporting of final census numbers for 2020 has been delayed by the pandemic. But the Texas Legislature has already committed to a redistricting plan that is likely to increase the state’s number of congressional representatives in the coming years — a significant and visible response to its exceptionally healthy population growth. In terms of jobs, no city has garnered more attention for major moves in the past 12 months than Austin, first landing the $1 billion Tesla Gigafactory that will come on line later this year, then receiving a commitment from Oracle to relocate its …