April 13, 2022

Multifamily Deals Continued to Pile In During a Busy First Quarter

April 12, 2022 | Bendix Anderson | WealthManagement.com

Skyrocketing rents are continuing to drive interest from investors of all types towards multifamily properties across the country.

On the heels of record investment sales volume on multifamily properties in 2021, early indications are that deal volume continued to flow during a busy first quarter of 2022.

Last year, the rents residents paid for apartments rose by a whopping 13 percent on average across the U.S., according to the economists the CBRE Capital Markets. That kind of rent growth offset any hesitation by investors due to uncertainties caused by the pandemic or the highest rate of inflation in more than 40 years.

In 2022, investors have even more reason to worry about inflation, but there are also expectations rents will keep rising as well. A new war threatens to push rising prices higher more quickly as Russian oil and Ukrainian grain vanish from the world markets.

But the demand for rental housing in the U.S. remain very strong in the first quarter of 2022. And investors seem grateful to have a safe haven from economic uncertainty as they paid high prices—and accepted low investment yields—for apartment properties.

“We do still expect 2022 to rival 2021,” says Matt Vance, senior economist with CBRE Econometric Advisors and head of multifamily research for CBRE, working in the firm’s Chicago offices.

≡ Continue Reading