It may sound counterintuitive, but Gregg Gerken, head of U.S. commercial real estate at TD Bank, believes some of the challenges the multifamily development market has faced have actually benefited the market. He specifically references labor shortages and construction delays.
There were concerns in some areas that too much product might come online too fast, hampering absorption and rent growth. But the recent speedbumps have allowed the pipeline to even out a bit, staggering the delivery of new units and preventing overbuilding. Demand still outpaces supply in many markets, which has led to average vacancy rates of around 5 percent and healthy rent growth.
Both developers and renters can look forward to new product delivering at a steady pace in 2019.
to hear takeaways from MBA CREF and 2019 predictions from Gerken.