There's no such thing as a free lunch (unless you sneak into a topping out party). At our Charlotte Multifamily Summit at the Omni, we learned rents and occupancies are up, but so are construction costs and competition for good sites. Newer properties are receiving the lion's share of the boom. For apartments going through lease up since 2007, average rents have spiked 47%, but for properties built in the '90s and early 2000s, the increase in the last six years has been 14%. Since middle-income households tend to occupy older properties, the difference probably reflects the stagnation of middle-income wages since the recession.
There weren't any worries about overbuilding at Bisnow's fourth annual Houston Multifamily Summit this week: Camden prez Keith Oden says five new jobs typically produce one unit of demand—that's the equilibrium he seeks to develop in a market. Houston is not only far from that stat, but it's way above any other market, with 11 jobs created this year for every unit under construction. Keith (left, with Greystar executive director Stacy Hunt and Winstead PC shareholder Josh Lebar) says renovations are his firm's focus now: You can take an 11-year-old property, put $11k per door into renovating it, and get 11% returns. (And then make a wish because of all the 11s.)
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