Apartment Volume Falls 27% in May via Multifamily Executive Magazine

Apartment volume fell for the fourth straight month in May—dropping 27% year over year, to $8.4 billion, according to Real Capital Analytics.

All property segments are slowing down. “Transactions involving portfolios and entity-level deals led the decline in May, with volume down 51% year over year on sales of $1.1 billion,” RCA wrote. “Still, this segment of the market is not behind the overall downward trend of recent months. Single-asset deals were down an average of 20% year over year in each of the last three months.”

Read more...Apartment Volume Falls 27% in May | Multifamily Executive Magazine

Robust Apartment Demand, Climbing Occupancy and Large Rent Growth Surged in Second Quarter via MultifamilyBiz.com

Demand for U.S. rental apartments surged during the second quarter of 2016, gaining momentum after a sluggish performance in the first three months of the year. The occupied apartment count across the nation’s 100 largest metros increased by 127,402 units in the second quarter, according to MPF Research, the rental market intelligence division of RealPage, Inc. This is one of the biggest quarterly demand totals posted throughout recent years, topping 2015’s second quarter demand volume by 23 percent. Furthermore, apartment demand from April to June well surpassed completions totaling 67,550 units.

Read more...Robust Apartment Demand, Climbing Occupancy and Large Rent Growth Surged in Second Quarter | MultifamilyBiz.com

D-FW apartment building booms with more than 50,000 units on the way via Dallas Morning News

North Texas apartment construction has exploded in the last few months, reaching almost unheard of levels.

More than 50,000 apartments are currently being built in the Dallas-Fort Worth area - a jump of almost 7,000 units in just the last three months, according to a new report by MPF Research.

More apartments are under construction in D-FW than anyplace else in the country.

Apartment building volumes in North Texas at midyear are about seven times what they were five years ago, according to MPF Research.

Read more...D-FW apartment building booms with more than 50,000 units on the way | Dallas Morning News

Rent still soaring but should moderate soon via USA Today

Apartment rents are still surging but some relief is in sight.

Average U.S. rent rose 0.4% in May, matching the record high, according to consumer price index data released this month, the 67th consecutive month of increases.

Rent climbed about 5% in the first half of the year, well above the 3% historical average, says Greg Willett, chief economist at RealPage, a property management software provider. Renting an average market-priced apartment now costs $1,282 a month.

Read more...Rent still soaring but should moderate soon

Houston Economic Indicators June 2016 via Dallas Fed

Recent data suggest that Houston’s economy has continued to soften. Higher oil prices may have begun to provide some aid to the still-ailing mining industry, but it’s too soon to tell. Meanwhile, spillovers from the energy industry to service sectors continue to grow. Refining and petrochemicals, health and government continue to add jobs, but the overall outlook remains weak.

Read more...Houston Economic Indicators June 2016 via Dallas Fed

Risk of Overbuilding Inches Up for Class A MF via GlobeSt.com

As 2016 reaches the halfway mark, Fitch Ratings is maintaining its positive view on multifamily fundamentals overall. However, the ratings agency sees an increasing risk of class A overbuilding in some markets.

“The concentration of high-end construction in 12 metro areas is intensifying and new supply in the student housing sector continues to break records,” according to a Fitch report, issued in advance of a webcast Tuesday morning on the US residential sector. “However, we do not expect the stress in multifamily asset performance to have an overall impact on ratings.”

Read more...Risk of Overbuilding Inches Up for Class A MF | GlobeSt.com

Investors Resist High Prices on Multifamily Assets via NREIonline.com

Investors are still eager to buy apartment properties, but they just aren’t as eager to pay quite so much for them.

“Deal volume is pulling back as buyers and sellers are simply moving further apart on pricing expectations,” says Jim Costello, senior vice president with New York City-based research firm Real Capital Analytics (RCA).

The volume of deals that closed in May to buy and sell apartment properties shrank, after a strong start to the year.

Read more...Investors Resist High Prices on Multifamily Assets

Apt. Starts Continue Monthly Volatility via GlobeSt.com

he multifamily sector’s volatility in terms of construction starts continued in May, with the federal government on Friday reporting a 1.2% decline in new apartment construction for the month. That followed a jump of 11.9% in April.

Overall, new residential construction nationwide saw a decline of 0.3% from the previous month, with new starts reaching a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 1,164,000, a 9.5% increase from the year-ago period. For single-family housing, the figure was up 0.3% to an annualized 764,000, while starts in properties of five units or more reached 396,000, according to data from the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Read more...Apt. Starts Continue Monthly Volatility | GlobeSt.com

Dallas Growth by Building Permits via Dallas Observer

North Texas is booming. Through April, the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area had more housing starts this year than any other place in the country, according to U.S. Census data, a solid 12 percent above second-place Houston.

Most of the new units under construction (76 percent) are being built outside of the city of Dallas, and most of them (58 percent) are single-family, which is another way of saying that an ever-increasing share of the region's population is residing in sprawling subdivisions planted on virgin land in Celina or Little Elm.

Read more...Dallas Growth by Building Permits | Dallas Observer

Texas Economy Faces Cross Currents via Dallas Fed

The Texas economy overall presents a befuddled picture. On the upside, employment growth bounced back in April after nearly halting in March but slowed again in May. Oil prices have increased, the rig count ticked up in early June and Texas exports rose strongly in the first quarter. The Texas Leading Index, which forecasts employment growth for the state, also saw broad-based improvement.

Read more...Texas Economy Faces Cross Currents - Dallas Fed

ALN Monthly Newsletter June 2016 via ALN Apartment Data

ALN Data just released their May 2016 stats on occupancy and rents for over 80 markets. In Texas, it includes DFW, Austin, Houston, San Antonio, Lubbock, Amarillo, Abilene, Corpus Christi and more. It is a must read from a great provider of apartment data.

Read more...ALN Monthly Newsletter June 2016 via ALN Apartment Data

Buying or renting, housing affordability just gets worse via CNBC

Mortgage rates may be hovering near record lows, but it's not enough to counter the sky-high, and still rising, prices in many of the nation's largest housing markets.

Big-city rents have been soaring, but now the outlying areas where residents flee to find affordability are seeing even bigger rent gains, too. For homebuyers, the picture is not much better. A very tight supply of homes for sale is pushing home values higher and pricing potential buyers out, both first-time and move-up buyers.

Read more...Buying or renting, housing affordability just gets worse

Houston becoming a 'renter's market' with apartment glut via San Antonio Express-News

Houston is likely becoming a renter's market as new luxury apartments high continue to come on line while job and population growth are slower than when the ground was broken on tens of thousands of units.

A midyear report seems to validate concerns forecast by economists earlier this year that Houston's apartment market was overbuilt. The total occupancy in April was 90.1 percent, according to an analysis from the Greater Houston Partnership. The analysis says that conventional wisdom holds that renters hold the cards in a market with occupancy rate below 90 percent. The rate is expected to fall into the mid-80s.

Read more...Houston becoming a 'renter's market' with apartment glut - San Antonio Express-News

Austin Economic Indicators June 2016 via Dallas Fed

The Austin economy grew moderately in April. The Austin Business-Cycle Index decelerated but growth remained above its long-term trend. Job growth slowed to an annualized 1.1 percent in April, mirroring the state rate. The unemployment rate held steady at a low level, indicating a tight labor market. Over the past several months, a technology sector slowdown has become a potential headwind to growth in Austin.

Read more...Austin Economic Indicators June 2016 via Dallas Fed

May the Rent Growth Be with You via Multi-Housing News Online

Rent growth deceleration clearly isn’t as imminent as once thought, as Yardi Matrix’s monthly rent survey reported another all-time high in rent growth. According to the report, U.S. rents increased $10 to an average of $1,204, an average 0.9 percent increase during the month and 6 percent more than this time last year. On a year-over-year basis, metros like Seattle, Sacramento and Portland came out on top with increases of more than 11 percent. Phoenix and Atlanta also displayed strong growth with both falling in the mid-8-percent range. San Francisco, Denver and Houston continue to decelerate.

Read more...May the Rent Growth Be with You

Houston Economic Indicators May 31, 2016 via Dallas Fed

The broader economy of Houston continues to struggle as the 2015–16 oil bust matures. The service sector is gradually slowing, and goods producers—particularly those tied to energy—continue to hemorrhage jobs. Leading indicators of the regional economy are mixed but continue to point toward a modestly negative outlook in the near term.

Read more...Houston Economic Indicators May 31, 2016 via Dallas Fed

Dallas Beige Book June 1, 2016 via Dallas Fed

Economic activity in the Eleventh District rose marginally over the past six weeks. Manufacturing activity ticked up and demand for nonfinancial services increased. Retail sales were mixed, with automobile sales remaining strong. Real estate activity continued to expand in most markets, while the energy sector contracted further. Loan demand growth slowed and agricultural conditions improved. Reports of employment changes and price pressures were mixed. Outlooks were generally positive but cautious.

Read more...Dallas Beige Book - Dallas Fed