Look Who’s Trending High in Multifamily Markets

Three Southeastern markets that have recently re-entered the top 10 after absorbing significant amounts of new supply.

The multifamily market is on track to deliver another stellar year as numbers continue to come in from October’s performance. Yardi Matrix reports that average US rents rose $1 for the month to $1,476, reaching yet another all-time high, while year-over-year growth has been at least 3% for more than a year.

Indeed, rent growth has been steady for the past few months, after decelerating from a 2019 high of 3.5% in May. “The fourth quarter is often a slower time for rent growth, but continuous demand and a slowly growing economy will likely keep rent growth above its long-term average,” says Yardi Matrix’s October report.

Perhaps what is more telling about the health of the apartment sector are the three Southeastern markets that have recently re-entered the top 10 after absorbing significant amounts of new supply. These cities are Raleigh, Charlotte and Nashville. They have had some of the strongest demographic demand for multifamily housing in the nation, but high deliveries had weighed on rent growth for much of the past few years, according to Yardi Matrix. “However, absorption remains very strong, and rents are growing accordingly.”

Full article HERE

Source: Globest.com

Raleigh-Durham apartment rent growth still strong

Apartment rental rates continue to rise in the Triangle with no end in sight as population growth and a booming economy make way for soaring demand and occupancy rates over 90 percent. 

Rental rates in the Triangle saw a 6.5 percent growth rate over the past 12 months, according to the latest report by ApartmentData.com, bringing average rates to $1,165 per month and $1.20 per square foot. 

Occupancy rates have reached 92.4 percent, with around 4,100 units absorbed over the past 12 months. Just 3,100 new units opened in the same period of time. 

Full article HERE
Source: Triangle Business Journal

Multifamily Demographics Positioned for More Growth

With expanding populations, a growing preference for renting and the majority of new jobs in the economy low-paying thus making homeownership challenging, the multifamily industry forecasts upwards of one million new renter households a year.

As a result, most multifamily experts believe the sector will flourish and prosper well into the 2020s. For example, according to the National Multifamily Housing Council and the National Apartment Association, in order to meet structural demand, apartment developers would need to complete approximately 325,000 new units annually between 2017 and 2030.

“Overall, the demand for multifamily housing remains strong and is really stable,” says Chris Nebenzahl, institutional research manager of Yardi Matrix. “There is an increase in rental rates, occupancy levels are stable and there are substantive conversations about affordable housing.”

Full article HERE

Source: GlobeSt.com

Triangle surges toward best in nation for 2020 real estate prospects

Triangle surges toward best in nation for 2020 real estate prospects

The Triangle has surged ahead once again in a new study by the Urban Land Institute and PricewaterhouseCoopers, coming in as the market with the second best real estate prospects in the nation going into 2020.

The report, Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2020, forecasts market prospects in the top 80 cities around the country, ranking top regions based on traditional factors such as size and growth as well as more complex indicators including the ability to withstand changes to changing economic conditions. 

This year the Triangle came in at No. 2 in the nation -- just behind Austin, Texas, -- for forecasted success in the coming year. Behind Raleigh/Durham was Nashville at No. 3 and Charlotte at No. 4. 

How Raleigh stacks up among top U.S. markets to watch

Here's how Raleigh stacks up among the top 10 U.S. markets to watch, according to the Urban Land Institute's and PricewaterhouseCoopers' 2020 Emerging Trends in Real Estate report.

The Triangle ranked No.1 in homebuilding prospects — just ahead of Charlotte at No. 2.

The report cited the Triangle’s boom in multi-family and suburban office sectors as well as the demand for housing and nearby higher education institutions.

“This market’s concentration of educational institutions — Duke University, the University of North Carolina, North Carolina State University, NC Central and several smaller colleges — coupled with the Research Triangle Park, has branded the area as a technology mecca,” the report reads. 

The region boasts over 89,000 tech jobs, putting it just third behind Silicon Valley and San Francisco. 

Additionally the rise in mixed-use, live-work-play developments has provided communities with new priorities for developing office and retail space -- something the Triangle continues to capitalize on in markets from the North Hills to Cary and Johnston County.

The report found demand for these types of spaces has increased as people across generations look to combat loneliness while the rise of the gig economy has made mixed-use spaces more conducive to workers.

But not all trends are looking up, and among the greatest challenges markets face across the country is housing.

Home prices continue to rise as construction, land and labor costs soar, with some markets seeing a drop in sales as affordability declines. 

The Triangle has seen some of this as well, though sales have more flattened than declined, and numerous reports throughout the year have testified to the health of the region's homebuilding industry. 

The report also mentions that markets are now late into an expansion cycle and past due for when a correction would normally be expected.

The study is ULI and PwC’s 41st since starting the Emerging Trends in Real Estate report.

Its results are based on three components:

  • A nationwide survey of ULI’s membership and other real estate industry leaders;

  • Face-to-face interviews by PwC researchers of more than 500 real estate industry leaders; and

  • Data gleaned from real estate markets across the country.

The study includes expert testimonies, graphics, statistics and more, sprinkling in the occasional advice on thinking about the passage of time — “time is a stream, not a frozen pond” — along with the occasional literary reference — “The game is afoot.”

The Triangle has risen on the list over the years, with ULI and PwC ranking the region at No. 3 in 2019 and No. 7 in 2017.

Full article HERE

Source: Triangle Business Journal

Strong demand throughout the Southeast

The Southeast economy remains strong, posting job growth and attracting more and more residents to urban areas. Population increases are driving housing demand in all of our markets, keeping apartment communities full, compelling rent growth and new development. Demand for apartments remains strong and continues to outpace historic levels. Asheville, Charleston and Charlotte have recorded the strongest demand over the past year at 9.3%, 8.3% and 6.5% respectively

Source: Real Data Analytics

Raleigh/Durham apartments are occupied...

Demand for apartments in the Raleigh-Durham metro area remains strong, squeezing the average vacancy rate to a historic low of 4.9%. New development in the pipeline continues to grow, with more than 11,000 units currently under construction or proposed throughout the area. The most active submarket is Wake-Central, which includes downtown Raleigh, where there are nearly 2,000 units under construction. Rent growth for apartments also remains strong, with the average rental rate now at $1,210 per month. Wake-Central has the highest average rent at $1,306 per month. The average vacancy rate is expected to remain between 5.0% and 6.0% in the coming year and rent growth is expected to remain strong.

Source: Real Data Analytics

Details HERE

The 25 Best Affordable Places to Live in the U.S. in 2019

According to the US Census Bureau, a household that pays 30 percent or more of their income on housing costs are considered to be burdened. Charlotte and Raleigh both are ranked #25 and #19 out of the top affordable places to live in the US with affordability in the low 20% range for both cities.

Source: Real Estate US News

Full List HERE

Q1 2019 U.S. Homeownership Rate drops to 64.2%

The Q1 2019 U.S. homeownership rate was 64.2%, down slightly from 64.8% in Q4 2018 and virtually unchanged from Q1 2018, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

  • The homeownership rate among those under the age of 35 dropped 1.1 percentage points during the first quarter to 35.4%, reversing most of the gains of the past year and putting homeownership rate for this group more or less flat from a year ago.

  • The only region that saw an uptick in the homeownership rate was the South, where it climbed to 66.2%.

  • The rental vacancy rate of 7% was virtually unchanged from the rate in the Q1 2018, but 0.4 percentage points higher than the Q4 2018 rate of 6.6%.

With the national homeownership rate essentially flat from a year ago, it remains just slightly below the historic average of 65.2% dating back to the 1960s. It’s still a ways off from the all-time highs approaching 70% set in the early 2000s, but in hindsight those lofty peaks may not have been sustainable. The quarterly decline in homeownership is shared across all ages, but is most disappointing for those in the under 35 and 35-to-44-year-old age brackets, the two groups driving the homeownership rate gains over the last few years.

Anemic homeownership rate growth among younger buyers signals the difficulties many of those buyers continue to face in securing a down payment, finding a home in their budget or qualifying for a loan. These hurdles–combined with potential shifts in preferences and/or a simple delay in the many “adulting” events like marriage and children that precipitate buying a home–can have the effect of keeping younger, would-be buyers in rental housing for a longer time. This rental market persistence, coupled with the sheer size of the 20-and-30-something population, is keeping rental vacancy rates low at 7% nationally and puts upward pressure on rents themselves.

Multifamily permitting activity has been high in recent years, but the reality is that as much as it feels like we’re building abundant rental units, it’s not enough to make up for a decade-long shortfall experienced during the housing boom, bust and early recovery.

Continued gains in homeownership will rely on more renters finding ways to clear these increasingly high hurdles. It’s unclear they will.

Full article HERE

Source: Zillow

4 Multifamily Development Trends to Watch in 2019

Changing demographics, shifting social values, and evolving development landscapes all continue to drive a surging, nationwide demand for multifamily housing. With empty-nesters looking to downsize, millennials staying single longer, and a general desire for a more convenient and social lifestyle, more and more “renter-by-choice” Americans are forgoing mortgages for lease agreements.

As demand for new housing units continues to drive the multifamily sector in 2019, developers are tasked with finding new ways to satisfy the growing need for apartments.

Full article HERE

Source: Multifamily Executive

Southeast Multifamily Outlook Holding Strong

Several Southeast markets continue to top national lists for job and population growth, causing investors to pour capital into the region’s multifamily sector as they chase a new wave of demand that’s driving the current market expansion.

ARA and Berkeley Point Capital’s 2Q 2018 United States Multihousing Market Report includes several Southeast hubs among its top 25 for sales volume in the past 12 months: Atlanta ($7.3 billion); Orlando, Fla., ($5.6 billion); South Florida ($4.5 billion); and Charlotte/Raleigh–Durham, N.C., ($4.2 billion).

The Southeast also notched the largest per-unit pricing gains of any other region, at 8.6% year over year. Additionally, its key metros benefit from migration fueled by high income-tax–rate states, including New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and California.

Full article HERE

Source: Multifamily Executive

Raleigh Ranks 3rd best in quality of life in the world

For the third year in a row, Raleigh made the top three cities for the best quality of life in the world according to Numbeo.com. 

In 2017, Raleigh was second on the list, but before that the City of Oaks had never cracked the top 100. In 2018, Raleigh was also ranked third in the world. 

For those three years, Numbeo ranked Raleigh as the top American city for quality of life. 

According to Numbeo.com, the quality of life index is "an estimation of overall quality of life by using an empirical formula which takes into account purchasing power index, pollution index, house price to income ratio, cost of living index, safety index, health care index, traffic commute time index and climate index." 

Charlotte came in at 10th on the list. Raleigh and Charlotte also rank in the top ten for local purchasing power, which shows "relative purchasing power in buying goods and services in a given city for the average wage in that city."

Full article HERE

Source: NUMBEO

The U.S. Apartment Sector Would Continue to Remain Strong Even in a Recession

Even if there is an economic downturn in the near future, the apartment sector is likely to hold up, according to industry experts.

“Apartments are still resilient against a possible recession,” says Andrew Rybczynski, senior consultant for CoStar Group Portfolio Strategy.

Though the high end of the market may be feeling the strain of overbuilding, the sector overall is benefitting from long-term trends that should continue to fill apartment units for the foreseeable future.

“In 2005 and 2006, we knew we were living on borrowed time. We knew the fundamentals didn’t makes sense,” says John Sebree, director of the national multi housing group with real estate services firm Marcus & Millichap. “Today, the apartment industry fundamentals are so strong, I don’t think a potential recession would affect us that much.”

Full article HERE

Source: National Real Estate Investor

Raleigh-Durham Poised for Another Year of Strong Growth

Economic momentum continues to build throughout the Raleigh-Durham region. Even as growth has ramped up nationwide, the Triangle region remains one of the fastest-growing areas in the country. National real GDP growth will likely end 2018 at 2.9%, backed by robust consumer spending and fiscal stimulus. We anticipate growth to moderate slightly to a still-solid 2.6% rate in 2019, as some of these tailwinds fade. The Raleigh-Durham area will continue to play a starring role in the national economic growth story, given the area’s booming tech and life sciences clusters which continue to attract new businesses and residents to the area. Raleigh ranks as the 8th fastest growing major metropolitan area in terms of real GDP growth from 2011 to 2017. The combined statistical area has added 240,000 residents during this period, lifting its population to 2.2 million. The region’s economic success is most clearly evident in the Triangle’s labor market. Both the Raleigh-Cary and Durham-Chapel Hill metro areas have seen their unemployment rates fall over the course of the past year and now sit well below the national rate at 3.1% and 3.2%, respectively. This comes as no surprise as the region has also been adding jobs at a pace well above the rest of the country. As of November, Raleigh payrolls have surged 3.2% year-over-year, propelled in large part by a booming tech industry. Job growth in Durham was slightly more moderate, but still grew 2.0%, which is ahead of the 1.7% growth seen nationwide. We suspect Durham’s slightly more modest expansion may also be underestimating growth. The Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, which is a more complete accounting of payrolls and lags the monthly survey data by six months, shows significantly stronger job growth in Durham’s key education & health and professional & business services sectors, suggesting the preliminary estimates of job growth will be revised higher to a rate more consistent with neighboring Raleigh. Furthermore, overall employment growth in both metro areas has accelerated more recently, making the prospects for growth throughout 2019 increasingly bright.

Full PDF HERE

Source: Wells Fargo Economics Group

Charlotte job growth continues it’s growth trajectory

CHARLOTTE — Amazon nixed Charlotte’s $270 million economic incentives package, snubbing the Queen City in the process.  But with the announcement of four major economic development initiatives in the past four weeks that are set to add as many as 2,715 good paying jobs to the economy, the Queen City intends to cultivate a strong workforce to attract and retain companies and skilled individuals.

Companies expand in locations where they can either find talent or attract talent to join the region, said Tracy Dodson, assistant city manager for the City of Charlotte.

“If you build a great city, and you build a great region, you attract the talent and you retain the talent,” said Dodson.  “When there’s a city within a region where people want to live, companies can thrive, and their employees can thrive.”

And Charlotte appears to be attracting and retaining talent, with the region growing at nearly 14 percent since 2010, ranking among the top 35 fastest-growing cities by population in 2017 by the U.S. Census Bureau.

That’s more than 300,000 people that have relocated to Charlotte in seven years, and the Queen City nets roughly 60 new residents per day.  And that’s good for Charlotte, said Dodson, and good for companies that are expanding or looking to relocate to the region.

“People want to be here,” said Dodson.  “We’re trying to leverage that with companies.”

Full article HERE

Source: WRAL Tech Wire

Demand for apartment rentals surges unexpectedly as home sales slump

Surging demand and strong occupancy in the nation’s apartment market is “surprising” experts who say the continued strength is “unexpected.”

Just a year ago, as dozens of cranes swarmed over major U.S. cities, there was concern that the rental apartment market was overheated and overbuilt.

Apartment absorption, which is the rate at which new units are rented out, is now at the highest level in three years, according to the U.S. Census. Apartment construction took off in 2012 and reached a 20-year high in 2017. It remained elevated this year, despite warnings that demand would slow as more millennials aged into their homebuying years.

And while buyer demand did surge, sales were thwarted by tight supply that has pushed prices higher in the past few years, weakening affordability. When mortgage rates surged this year, even fewer people were left with the means to buy a home.

“People underestimate how far away from homeownership a lot of renters across the country, even in luxury apartment buildings, are,” said John Pawlowski, residential sector head at Green Street Advisors. “The demand has been better than expected. It’s been a stickier tenant base and pricing power at that tenant base, again in the face of elevated supply, has simply surprised us.”

Full article HERE

Source: CNBC.com

Surprise: This Southern Hub Might Have the Best Talent Pipeline in Tech

North Carolina is home to a bustling epicenter for tech startups, brainy talent, and killer barbecue.

A hyper-educated workforce means the Research Triangle, the North Carolina region comprising Chapel Hill, Durham, and Raleigh--Inc.'s No. 3 Surge City--has a booming and brainy startup scene. Once known for tobacco and textiles, the area has reinvented itself as a hub equally well-versed in tech and food.

Startup Neighborhoods

Most residents never thought they'd see the day, but downtown Durham is now a cultural and entrepreneurial hotbed. American Tobacco Campus, once a crime-ridden stretch of abandoned cigarette factories, is now a sprawling expanse of outdoor cafés, green space, and startup offices. Sports-scheduling app maker Teamworks is around the corner from the massive American Underground co-working space, which houses more than 80 companies, including fintech startup LoanWell.

Raleigh's Warehouse District, another recently revitalized precinct, is home to Videri Chocolate Factory, as well as HQ Raleigh's 20,000-square-foot flagship co-working space. Lunchgoers hit the original Happy + Hale for ahi poke bowls and cold-pressed juices.

$96,173

Average salary of a software engineer here --17 percent below the national average.

Source: Glassdoor

$1.1 billion

Funding raised by North Carolina startups in 2017, up 36 percent from the previous year.

Source: Council for Entrepreneurial Development

$25.23

The average annual asking office rent per square foot.

Source: JLL's Q2 2018 Office Insight report on the Raleigh-Durham market

47 percent

Portion of the local talent pool with a bachelor's or higher degree.

Source: JLL's Q2 2018 Office Insight report on the Raleigh-Durham market

The Downtown Chapel Hill area, located at the northwest corner of the UNC campus, is home to a Google outpost and a handful of co-working spaces.

Talent Pipeline

The home to Duke, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and NC State offers a hyper-educated workforce (ahead of San Francisco, according to NerdWallet). All three schools have well-regarded entrepreneurship programs, as well as angel funds through which alumni can invest in current students' ventures. The area's startups are software-heavy, thanks in part to the schools' strong engineering and computer science studies, but there are plenty of exceptions, like beekeeping startup Bee Downtown, which Leigh- Kathryn Bonner founded while at NC State.

UNC-backed Launch Chapel Hill offers a 22-week accelerator program that accepts eight to 12 startups. Graduates include Seal the Seasons, which freezes and distributes farmers' crops.

Full Article HERE

Source: Inc.com

Raleigh ranked #2 iN "Top Ten Places to Live" by Time

You don’t have to empty your savings account to afford city living in America—at least not in these locations.

Urban areas offer a gateway to culture or a medley of activities, but they typically come with a high price tag. That’s why MONEY crunched the numbers to find big cities—those with a population of 300,000 or more—with the best of all worlds: attractions, iconic neighborhoods, a relatively low cost of living, and promising job growth.

Here are our top 10 picks for best big cities to live in. (See MONEY’s full 2018 ranking of the Best Places to Live in America.)

#2: RALEIGH, NC

Average Family Income: $82,021

  • Median Home Price: $263,000

  • Projected Job Growth (2017-2022): 9.6%

Part of North Carolina’s tri-city university hub, called the Triangle, along with Durham and Chapel Hill, Raleigh is home to a relatively young, diverse, and educated population.

Like Austin, Raleigh is a hotspot for employment seekers: Moody’s Analytics projects the area’s jobs will grow 9.6% by 2022. Forbes this year ranked Raleigh among the top 10 cities for jobs, owing in part to its 17.25% job growth over the past five years. And people are listening: There’s been a 13% increase in population since 2010, according to MONEY’s Best Places to Live database.

Your wallet will feel the benefits too: With an average sales tax of about 7.25% and average property taxes at $2,632, the city’s cost of living is relatively low compared with our other big cities.

As the historically significant birthplace of Andrew Johnson, Raleigh is host to dozens of museums, earning it the nickname Smithsonian of the South. The North Carolina Museum of History reaches back 14,000 years into the state’s past, and at the massive North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, general admission is free.

There’s a strong sense of community as well. Every fall, the North Carolina State Fair draws 1 million visitors to Raleigh for a 10-day festival featuring rides, music, games, and crafts from local artists. Tickets cost about $10 for adults and $5 for children.

Source: Time

Full article HERE

Strong economy expected to lift all commercial real estate sectors in 2019

Sustained momentum from the U.S. economy’s extended economic expansion bodes well for major commercial real estate asset classes in 2019, promising additional allocation from institutional and international investors, a hunt for opportunities in secondary markets, and robust construction completions in sectors such as office and multifamily, according to a new report from CBRE, 2019 U.S. Real Estate Market Outlook.CBRE’s outlook report anticipates that absent economic shocks such as sharply rising inflation and import costs, the U.S. economy will generate solid growth amounting to a 2.7 percent gain in gross domestic product and benefiting all sectors. That, in turn, will contribute to stable capitalization rates for the market as a whole, a 10th consecutive year of positive net absorption in the office market, and support for redevelopment and re-tenanting in the retail market.

“Continued economic growth bodes well for all sectors, sustaining job growth for the office market, consumer confidence for retail and industrial, and entity-level, mergers-and-acquisition activity for the capital markets sector,” said Richard Barkham, global chief economist and global head of research, CBRE. “We foresee compelling opportunities in secondary markets, given that we haven’t experienced cap-rate convergence in those markets or even in many of the crowded primary markets.”

CBRE’s 2019 Outlook dives deeper into six topics for the coming year. In regards to the U.S. economy, CBRE sees “confidence and momentum driving consumer spending and business investment in 2019. Growth might be less than in 2018, given the potential drags of inflation and the slowing single-family housing market, but we predict healthy GDP growth of 2.7 percent,” said Barkham.

As for capital markets, robust investment volume in 2019, including entity-level deals, should match the strong transaction levels of 2018. M&A momentum should carry into 2019, especially since individual assets are in limited supply and generally priced at a premium. Borrowing costs may ease up, due to slowly rising bonds rates, but the amount of equity available for investment in real estate should support transaction volume and keep cap rates low in some cases. Specifically, various secondary markets may register cap-rate decreases in 2019.

Source: CBRE and Institutional Real Estate

Full article HERE

Charlotte (#1) and Raleigh(#2) Top list of cities where demand for tech workers is greatest.

Based on job posting data over a 12-month period (August 2017-July 2018), CompTIA looked at 20 metropolitan areas with populations greater than 250,000, where demand for tech workers is greatest. The cities were then ranked based on cost of living, number of open IT positions, and projected job growth over the next 12 months and the next 5 years.

The result? A geographically diverse list that shows Tech Towns are flourishing across the nation and in areas that extend far beyond the traditional coastal tech hubs.

North Carolina was a major stand-out, with Charlotte earning the no. 1 spot and Raleigh just behind at no. 2. Southern hotbeds like Austin, Dallas, Atlanta and Huntsville, Alabama also made the top 10.

Source: CompTIA

Full Article HERE