Apartment Market Conditions Stabilizing

The National Multi Housing Council’s Quarterly Survey of Apartment Market Conditions.

All measurements, occupancy, sales volume, equity and debt finance remained below 50. A reading below 50 indicates that conditions are worse than three months ago. Its not surprising that as long as we continue to lose jobs rental properties will remain in doubt. What the market will bear in terms of rent rates will obviously be under pressure and that impacts value and that impacts sales.

All is Not Grim

Three of the four indicators tracked by the NMHC survey were higher than last quarter, with only the debt index still declining. The survey also suggests that transaction activity is mainly being restrained by uncertainty in apartment property values and not financing constraints. Only when uncertainty fades are we likely to see a significant upturn in apartment transactions (via www.nmhc.org).

After 15 consecutive quarters of declining sales volume, sales have ticked up. 76% of those surveyed indicated that it is the uncertainty of property values in a difficult economy, rather than the lack of financing that is holding back sales volume.

*Tight indicates markets a with low vacancies and high rent increases.
*Sales volume indicates the number of deals.

Thanks for Reading
Howard Bell
yourpropertypath.com
A web site of over 450 articles related to real estate focused primarily on property management.