Multi-Housing News - October 2009 - (Page 12)

market pulse Commentary and Data Supplied by Bernard Markstein, Director of Forecasting, National Association of Home Builders Multifamily Starts 254,000 250,000 Units 200,000 150,000 115,000 100,000 50,000 Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. ’08 ’09 CPI vs. Rent 5.0% Percentage Change from a Year Ago 4.0% 3.0% 2.0% 1.0% 0 -1.0% -2.0% -3.0% Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. ’08 ’09 Apr. May June July Aug. CPI -1.5% Rent 3.8% CPI 4.9% Rent 2.0% Multifamily Starts: Multifamily starts for buildings with more than five units remain volatile. At 115,000 units at an annual rate—up from the previous month’s 85,000 units—it does read as a slight improvement. But it is nowhere near the 200,000-300,000-unit levels of 2007—a level that most agree would be necessary to produce multifamily housing adequate to future demand. The best that can be said for multifamily starts at this point is that they have appeared to hit bottom at around 100,000 starts (their average for the last three months). Starts are likely to continue to fluctuate around this number for the next several months as financing for new projects remains very difficult to obtain. CPI vs. Rent: The overall Consumer Price Index continued to decline on a year-over-year basis. The rent segment is still on the positive side, but the rate of increase continues to slow. Last year at this time, the rate for the rental segment was 3.8 percent higher than the previous year’s level. However, general inflation was up 5.4 percent for the same period. Although the most recent rise in rents is only 2 percent higher than last year’s level, that is clearly better than the 1.5 percent decline in the CPI. To comment, contact Keat Foong at keat.foong@nielsen.com MHN ONLINE For charts and commentary on multifamily starts, apartment vacancies, interest rates and building material prices, visit www.multi-housingnews.com/marketdata October 2009 | Multi-Housing News http://www.multi-housingnews.com/webinar http://www.multi-housingnews.com/webinar http://www.multi-housingnews.com/marketdata

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Multi-Housing News - October 2009

Multi-Housing News - October 2009
Contents
From the Editor
Executive Insight
News
Market Pulse
Finance: The Future of the GSEs
Investment: Transactions
Market Report: Midwest
Property Management
Development: Adaptive Reuse
Products
Technology

Multi-Housing News - October 2009