Multifamily Apartments Holding Their Value
According to National Association of Realtors research economist George Ratiu, while almost every type of commercial or income property has had a rough going in the past two years, “the (rental) apartment sector continues to maintain a stronger performance compared with other sectors.” Those include office buildings, which have seen widespread property value declines — and retail real estate, which has been particularly hard hit as consumers penny-pinched during the recession and stayed away in droves.
Multifamily, on the other hand, has done better holding value, keeping units filled and rent rolls stable or growing. During the second and third quarters of this year, demand for rental apartments as measured by net absorption, increased by more than 89,000 units nationwide. Rental building owners have done particularly well in keeping vacancies low, with rates in some major metropolitan markets in the five percent range.
