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Tag Archives: Multifamily

Need for Government Guarantee in GSEs’ Multifamily Business

Without a government guarantee, Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's multifamily businesses would be less viable and ""have little inherent value,"" according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), the entities' conservator. As the FHFA works toward its goal of winding down the GSEs' presence in the market, the conservator required each GSE to determine whether its multifamily business could operate without a government guarantee. Both GSEs suggest without a government guarantee, their multifamily units would not be able to support affordable housing programs.

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Report: More than 1 in 4 Working Renters Face Severe Housing Costs

While home affordability has reached record high levels, for renters, housing cost burdens have been steadily increasing. According to the annual Housing Landscape report from the Center for Housing Policy, 26.4 percent of working renters spent more than half of their household income on housing costs in 2011. The share is an increase from 2008 when 22.8 percent of working renters had a severe housing cost burden. CHP provided two reasons the burden of renting has grown: falling incomes and rising rental housing costs. For example, the report found the median housing cost for working renters rose nearly six percent between 2008 and 2011, yet median incomes fell more than three percent.

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Apartment Sector Shows Improving Conditions in April

Apartment markets improved in April in all categories, according to the National Multi Housing Council's (NMHC) April Quarterly Survey of Apartment Market Conditions. All four of the survey's indexes--Market Tightness, Sales Volume, Equity Financing, and Debt Financing--came in above 50, which marks the point between improving and deteriorating conditions. April's gains reverse findings made in January, when Market Tightness and Sales Volume dropped below 50 for the first time since 2010.

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Multifamily Boosts Housing Starts in March

Led by a surge in multifamily building, housing starts jumped 7.0 percent in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,036,000, the highest level since June 2008 while housing starts dropped 3.9 percent to 902,000, the lowest level since November, the Census Bureau and HUD reported jointly Tuesday. In February, multifamily activity represented 60 percent of the increase in permits, while in March, all of the multifamily units accounted for all of the increase in starts as single-family starts fell.

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Construction Spending Up in February

Construction spending rose 1.2 percent month-over-month in February, according to the Census Bureau. On an annual basis, construction spending was up 7.9 percent in February, reaching an annual rate of $885.1 billion. Residential construction spending increased 2.2 percent over the month, while nonresidential construction spending increased 0.4 percent. Within the residential sector, multifamily construction spending decreased in February while single-family construction spending rose.

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Commentary: No News Is…

The explanation from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) for the drop in the Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) for February has to be viewed with a jaundiced eye. According to the NAR, the PHSI dropped because of the low inventory of homes for sale. Of course, that wasn't offered as an explanation one month earlier, when the inventory of homes for sale dropped to its lowest level since December 1999 and the PHSI increased. But when the PHSI fell in February, and the inventory of homes for sale increased, the still-low inventory became a convenient excuse.

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Survey: 1 in 5 U.S. Households Reside in a Multifamily Rental

The Census Bureau and HUD released the results of its new 2012 Rental Housing Finance Survey, revealing that one in five American households live in multifamily rental buildings. The survey, which was conducted in the winter and early spring of 2012, found that there are nearly 2.3 million multifamily rental properties in the United States, 67 percent of which are owned by households or individuals. Among other findings: 1,337, or 59.4 percent, of multifamily rental properties examined in the survey have at least one mortgage.

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Report: Booming Multifamily Sector Lacks Affordable Housing

The rental market may be flourishing, but finding decent, affordable housing is still a challenge for many renters, especially among the lower-income households, the National Low Income Housing Coalition revealed in a recent report titled Out of Reach 2013. A person working full-time would need to make about $18.79 an hour to afford a decent apartment, yet the hourly wage earned by the average renter is $14.32, according to the report. Among extremely low income (ELI) renter households, affordable housing is an even greater issue. The report estimates there are 10.1 million ELI renters in the country, and 76 percent of the ELI rental segment spends over half of their income on housing costs.

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Commercial, Multifamily Debt Grows in Q4

In the fourth quarter of 2012, commercial and multifamily mortgage debt continued to grow, reaching the highest level in four years, according to a report from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). Commercial and multifamily mortgage debt was up by $21.8 billion, or 0.9 percent, from the previous quarter and up $29.7 billion, or 1.2 percent, from the fourth quarter of 2011, the MBA reported.

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