Multifamily Occupancy Rates Stabilize, Rent Growth Slows

Aug 31, 2012 10:32 AM, By Bendix Anderson, Contributing Writer

Apartment rents are still growing across the country, but not as quickly as they were in the summer of 2011, when growth in effective rents peaked.

“Things have slowed since a year ago,” says Jay Denton, vice president of research for data firm Axiometrics Inc., based in Salt Lake City. “The growth rate has slowed for rents… The growth for occupancies is starting to flatten out.”

Axiometrics predicts that average apartment rents will settle into a steady pace of growth over the next few years, similar to rental markets in the mid-1990s, as occupancy rates stay very high.

The percentage of occupied apartments appears to be settling in at close to 95 percent. The national occupancy rate actually dropped very slightly… [Full Article]

Creating Commercial Real Estate Alpha

by paracap August 9th, 2012

In modern portfolio theory, Alpha is the excess return of an investment above the market or benchmark return. In the capital markets, Alpha is the excess return of common stocks above a benchmark like the S&P 500 Index or the excess return of a portfolio of REIT stocks above the FTSE NAREIT Index.

In CRE, Alpha is the excess return generated by the investment owner/manager above the market return like the NCREIF NPI Index (see the June 15, 2012 VOM for current returns). The Alpha return in CRE as opposed to stocks and bonds is primarily… [Full Article]

Investors Look to Secondary and Tertiary Markets for Multifamily

Aug 8, 2012 11:53 AM, By Bendix Anderson, Contributing Writer

Investors tired of paying super-high prices for apartment properties might follow the lead of Panther Properties Investment LLC, which just bought the Effingham Parc Apartments, located a few miles outside of Savannah, Ga.

“We are at that point in the cycle when in search of yield, investors look to secondary and even tertiary markets,” says Dan Fasulo, managing director of data firm Real Capital Analytics, regarding the sale, which closed in July.

The Effingham deal could represent the shape of things to come—as investors once again begin to pay respectable prices for class-A assets in these strengthening secondary markets. Panther Properties paid $30.8 million for Effingham, or about $87,500 per apartment for the class-A, 352-unit property. The capitalization rate for the deal.. [Full Article]