The April Apartment Advisory from Berkadia-RealPage highlights the resilience of more affordable rents during the pandemic. Between March 2020 and March 2021, Class C assets were the only product type to average any rent growth. Additionally, the average occupancy rate among Class C assets in the past year has run about 60 basis points tighter vs. Class B and 170 basis points tighter than Class A. The relative strength in Class C surprised many who expected widespread weakness in employment to hammer this segment. This is especially true given its outsized exposure to leisure and hospitality. Unlike white-collar residents in

With a bit more evidence, it’s clear that last year’s “urban exodus” was always a bit more complex than this neatly labeled theme implied. By now, we all understand that lots of people left the largest, most expensive cities for cheaper, less dense markets. But an “urban exodus”? Did everyone leave Manhattan for a spacious suburban home in Fairfield County? That’s ridiculous. An early mentor often said that reality is never as good or as bad as it seems. Things are messy. We try to simplify complex issues to make sense of them. Since we don’t always have the time

It’s natural for investors to ask how apartments have held-up during the pandemic. In normal times it’s hard to provide a useful answer given the idiosyncrasies of local markets. But over the past year, factors such as where the property is located (gateway coastal city vs. smaller sunbelt market), the level of rent charged, and the type of building (high rise vs. garden vs. townhome) have mattered significantly. A recent article by RealPage describes the wide range of outcomes across different neighborhoods within the same markets over the past year. For example, some markets within the Washington, DC metro area

The latest Yardi Matrix National Multifamily Report paints a picture of a broadening recovery in apartment rents. In the report, you’ll find several of Cove’s favorite markets showing some of the most robust rent trends nationally, including Houston, Atlanta, Austin, Tucson, and the NC Triad. You don’t have to take Yardi’s word for it. The latest Apartment List National Rent Report showed a 1.1% annual increase for March, the largest increase since they began publishing their national rent index in 2017. With the latest improvement, year-over-year rent growth at the national level has now turned positive, eliminating the pandemic. Even