Features

240 West State Street in Trenton, N.J.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Biden-Harris Administration has released a new guidebook, developed in partnership with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and other federal agencies. The goal of the guidebook is to help housing providers identify federal resources to finance the conversion of commercial properties to residential and mixed-use developments. In addition to the guidebook, HUD will release an updated notice on how its Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding — $10 billion of which has been allocated during the current administration — can be used to boost …

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Robert Hicks Occupancy Asset Living

Sensing a shift in the wind, multifamily property manager Asset Living is preparing for a bumpier leasing environment amid rising supply, slowing rent growth and overall economic uncertainty. While an adjustment, it shouldn’t come as a complete shock, says Robert Hicks, an Asset Living division president in charge of the conventional multifamily business in the western United States. Over the past handful of years, the sector has enjoyed some of the highest occupancies he has seen in his 25-year career in the industry, he points out. At the same time, …

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Renters TheGuarantors

The failure of residents to meet coverage requirements or letting policies lapse can cost owners and operators significantly, according to TheGuarantors, a fintech company serving the multifamily industry. For some operators, this can mean up to hundreds of thousands of dollars in liability costs. It can be months before operators become aware that residents have changed or canceled their policy. Property technology (proptech) innovations have helped digitize every facet of the leasing, management, maintenance, rent collection and revenue management processes. However, most proptech improvements have traditionally been renter focused, rather …

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Keybank Multifamily Affordable Housing Janette O'Brien

Multifamily developers and owners seeking debt financing face a gauntlet of headwinds, but deal flows confirm that good deals are still landing loans. That’s according to Janette O’Brien, head of production for multifamily lending at KeyBank. As one of the nation’s largest bank-based financial services companies, KeyBank has a full pipeline of multifamily loans in process. That puts O’Brien’s finger on the pulse of what differentiates viable deals in today’s volatile market. Multifamily & Affordable Housing Business asked O’Brien about current borrower challenges, as well as the strategies that are helping some …

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The Aronson in Fayetteville, Arkansas

The construction of new build-to-rent (BTR) homes hit a record in 2022, with more than 14,500 houses completed, according to a RentCafe analysis of Yardi Matrix data. This is a 47 percent increase in deliveries from 2021.  Now, approximately 44,700 BTR homes are under construction across America, triple the number of new homes completed in 2022. Prior to 2020, RentCafe notes, only about 6,000 BTR units were completed annually. RentCafe cited data from the firm’s sister company, Yardi Matrix. The data includes properties defined as single-family homes for rent that are in build-to-rent, …

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By Jeff Coles, Berkadia Over the last 15 years, even during the Great Recession, single-family rentals continued to deliver excellent returns through appreciation and rental income. As demand for the sector has increased significantly, driven by changing migration patterns, many investors are shifting their investment strategies to include single-family rental/build-to-rent homes (SFR/BTR), also referred to as built for rent (BFR) houses. Development and Interest in SFR/BTR Despite recessionary rumors, development is continuing, often undertaken by some of the leading developers in the for-sale single-family market. Also, institutional investors have shown …

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Alta Star Harbor in Alameda, Calif.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court has released its decision on Sackett v. EPA, a case focused on the definition of the “waters of the United States” (WOTUS). The court unanimously ruled on May 25 that the federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act (CWA) extends only to wetlands that are “indistinguishable” from larger bodies of water by having a “continuous surface connection.” The decision narrows the reach of federal CWA protections and could have a major impact on a variety of industries, including commercial real estate. On June 1, 2022, …

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A 3D render of Ltd. Med Center, a contemporary-style community in Houston.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Mid-America Apartment Communities (MAA) has reclaimed the title of largest apartment owner in the U.S., up from the No. 2 spot a year ago. Even though MAA owns fewer units today than it did in 2022, when its portfolio size was 100,002 units, the company dethroned Starwood Capital Group from the top of this year’s list. MAA previously held the No. 1 spot in 2021. The newly released ranking from the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) shows Germantown, Tennessee-based MAA owned 99,676 units at the end of 2022, …

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Orchard at Hilltop, a three-building multifamily building atop a hill.

ARLINGTON, VA. — More than 70 percent of housing providers say that rent control policies impact their investment and development plans, according to a newly released survey from the National Apartment Association (NAA). In addition, two-thirds of respondents say they would not consider investing in markets with strict rent control policies. The survey — which examined the consequences of rent control policies in cities across America — was conducted by NDP Analytics and commissioned by NAA. From December 2022 to February 2023, NDP conducted 24 interviews with housing providers and developers …

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A construction site for the redevelopment of a hotel building.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — With many office buildings, hotels and shopping malls sitting vacant or underutilized, repurposing commercial properties into multifamily housing is growing more commonplace. A recently released report suggests that these conversions could be financially feasible across a broad range of markets and circumstances. “Conversions have existed for decades, but the pandemic has accelerated their growth potential by rendering more commercial properties obsolete,” says Anita Kramer, senior vice president of the ULI Center for Real Estate Economics and Capital Markets. “Our research demonstrates that there’s no ‘cookie-cutter’ formula for …

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