Headlines
Top Story
Apartment Investors See Good and Bad From Homes Slump
Industry News
Foreclosures Up in Central Texas, Including for Multifamily Housing
Apartments in North Carolina's Triad Not Seeing Subprime Traffic Bump
Borrowers Abandon Mortgages as Home Prices Dip
Kansas Web Site Links Apartment Residents With Affordable Digs
Apartment Cap Rates Fall to 6.11 Percent in January
Warren Troupe Named UDR's Senior Executive VP and General Counsel
Rental Vacancies Decline in Colorado
San Diego County Apartment Sales Drop for 3rd Straight Year
Post Properties Announces Quarterly Dividends
Legislative/Legal News
NAA and NMHC Press Congress for New Solutions to Housing Woes
California City Loses Court Battle Over Apartment Rents
Senator Looking to Increase Access to Affordable Housing
N.Y. Town Moves to Limit Trash Pickup at Apartment Communities
Virginia Panel Rejects Apartment-Related Carbon Monoxide Bill
Top Story
IRES offers property management software solutions. Its world-class offerings provide clients flexibility, transparency and a competitive advantage.
Apartment Investors See Good and Bad From Homes Slump
Digested From "Apartment Investors See Good and Bad From Homes Slump"
Investor's Business Daily (02/29/08) P. A8; by Joe Gose
Nationwide, demand for apartments continues to climb, due mainly to the ongoing wave of single-family home and condo foreclosures that is forcing more homeowners back into the rental housing market. However, this in turn is creating a troubling "shadow market," as foreclosed homes and condos now often compete with apartments for renters in many tight markets. Apartment REIT officials have cautioned that the nation's housing excess could add as many as 1 million more units to the overall rental supply. Reis Inc. reports that apartment vacancies nationwide declined to 5.6 percent last year, while rents rose 4.6 percent--the biggest annual increase since 2000.
Web Link | Return to Headlines
Industry News
Time Warner Cable Community Solutions has proven success partnering with MDU owners, providing quality voice/video/data products to their residents.
Foreclosures Up in Central Texas, Including for Multifamily Housing
Digested From "Commercial Foreclosures Up, But Mostly for Small Properties"
Austin Business Journal (02/29/08) by A.J. Mistretta
A new report from Foreclosure Listing Service Inc. shows that the number of commercial properties posted for foreclosure auction in Central Texas' Travis and Williamson counties increased 40 percent for this year's first quarter versus the same period a year ago. The category that has seen one of the biggest increases is multifamily housing, with a total of 21 apartment communities being posted for foreclosure so far this year. That is more than double the total from a year earlier. Meanwhile, the "miscellaneous" category--which includes mostly single-tenant buildings--recorded a 26 percent year-over-year increase to 44 properties. A total of 74 properties have been posted since the first of the year, a gain from 53 in the first quarter of 2007. The figures include those properties scheduled for auction throughout this month.
Web Link | Return to Headlines
Apartments in North Carolina's Triad Not Seeing Subprime Traffic Bump
Digested From "Apartment Owners Not Seeing Foreclosure Traffic"
Triad Business Journal (03/03/08) by Laura Youngs
When home foreclosures began increasing in North Carolina's Triad region last year, apartment property owners braced themselves for an expected increase in the number of applicants in need of rental housing. So far, this has not happened. Several reasons are keeping these individuals away from area apartments. Some of those who have been foreclosed are likely moving in with family, while others are moving into single-family homes rented by individual owners. Also, the growth that apartment owners are seeing--such as people renting longer because of a slow market--is being negated by the sheer number of apartments in the Triad. Reis Inc. research indicates that the area added 372 apartments in 2007, a 0.7 percent increase, to bring the total to 56,585. Reis calculates that the effective rent in the Triad area increased 1.2 percent in last year's October-through-December period from a year earlier, while the vacancy rate was down about a percentage point to 7.3 percent.
Web Link | Return to Headlines
Borrowers Abandon Mortgages as Home Prices Dip
Digested From "Borrowers Abandon Mortgages as Prices Drop"
Wall Street Journal (02/29/08) P. A3; by Ruth Simon; Scott Patterson
During previous housing slumps, homeowners would default on their mortgages only when payments became unmanageable due to job loss, illness, divorce, or other financial problems. However, observers say more homeowners--some of whom purchased their homes as investments--are walking away from their properties even though they can afford the mortgage payments, simply because they owe more than the real estate is worth, cannot orchestrate a loan modification, or cannot sell due to falling prices that show no signs of recovery in the short term. PMI Mortgage Group Inc. chief economist David Berson notes that "delinquencies and defaults could be higher than the industry is estimating" if these scenarios indicate a national trend. Meanwhile, Fannie Mae officials are considering penalties for borrowers who abandon their mortgages despite having the means to repay, including litigation or forcing them to wait a certain period of time before qualifying for another mortgage backed by the government-sponsored enterprise.
Web Link | Return to Headlines
Kansas Web Site Links Apartment Residents With Affordable Digs
Digested From "Site Links Renters With Affordable Housing"
Topeka Capital Journal (KS) (02/28/08)
The Kansas Housing Resources Corporation has put together a collective housing Web site where users can scout for affordable rentals available throughout the state. The site, kshousingsearch.org, currently lists more than 11,000 units in 30 counties and includes units subsidized through KHRC's multifamily housing tax credit program and the HOME Rental program. Property owners and private corporations can freely post listings on the site, which KHRC officials say will prove a valuable resource for individuals who may lose their homes in the approaching storm seasons.
Web Link | Return to Headlines
Apartment Cap Rates Fall to 6.11 Percent in January
Digested From "Apartment Cap Rates Fall to 6.11 Percent in January"
Wall Street Journal (02/27/08) P. B10
Real Capital Analytics reports that capitalization rates for apartment communities eased from 6.18 percent in December to 6.11 percent last month. Looking at other property types, average cap rates for central-business-district office buildings rose from 5.38 percent to 5.41 percent over that same time span.
Web Link | Return to Headlines
Warren Troupe Named UDR's Senior Executive VP and General Counsel
Digested From "UDR Appoints Warren L. Troupe Senior Executive Vice President and General Counsel"
Centre Daily Times (PA) (02/27/08)
Warren L. Troupe has been named UDR Inc.'s senior executive vice president and general counsel. Troupe previously served as a partner with Morrison & Forester LLP, serving more than a decade with the Denver-based firm. During that time, he represented a large number of companies in a practice that focused on all aspects of corporate finance. UDR ranks as the nation's third-largest apartment REIT. As of the end of last year, UDR owned 65,867 apartments and had another 6,386 units in various stages of development.
Web Link | Return to Headlines
Rental Vacancies Decline in Colorado
Digested From "Report: Rental Vacancies Drop in Metro Area"
Denver Business Journal (02/26/08) by Paula Moore
The newly released Colorado Multifamily Affordable Housing Vacancy and Rent Report shows that vacancies in the state's multifamily affordable housing declined to 5.9 percent in the last three months of 2007 from 6.4 percent in the third quarter. However, vacancies rose from the 5.2 percent recorded for the same period a year earlier. Median monthly rent at such communities statewide was $682.47 a month during the fourth quarter, a 3.5 percent increase from $658.67 in the July-through-September period. Looking at the individual markets, the Boulder/Broomfield area ranked as the tightest affordable multifamily market, with only a 2.1 percent vacancy rate. The study was a collaboration between the Colorado Division of Housing, the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority and Red Stone Agency Lending LLC. The report's author was Gordon Von Stroh, a professor at the University of Denver's Daniels College of Business. For the purposes of the study, Von Stroh defined multifamily housing as residential communities with two or more units, including duplexes, fourplexes, apartments and rental condominiums.
Web Link | Return to Headlines
San Diego County Apartment Sales Drop for 3rd Straight Year
Digested From "Report: Apartment Sales Drop for 3rd Straight Year"
San Diego Daily Transcript (02/25/08)
A new Cushman & Wakefield report shows that apartment sales in San Diego County declined for the third straight year in 2007. Analysts, though, theorize that may be due more to a dearth of properties than to a lack of a desire on investors' part to own them. George Carlson, Cushman & Wakefield associate director, states, "Apartment owners recognize that the San Diego County apartment market is one of the strongest in the nation, fueled by a still growing economy and demand for a limited supply of affordable housing. As a result, many owners are reluctant to sell and have shifted their strategy to maximizing cash flow through higher rental occupancy and rates." The study recorded 482 apartment sales last year, falling 30.75 percent from 696 sales a year earlier. Even though transactions fell, the number of units sold was down a mere 2.15 percent. While the number of sales transactions last year was the lowest annual total since 1993, the C&W report indicates that institutional investors remain open to paying top-dollar prices for anticipated upside potential.
Web Link | Return to Headlines
Post Properties Announces Quarterly Dividends
Digested From "Post Properties Announces Quarterly Dividends"
Business Wire (02/20/08)
Post Properties Inc. has announced a first-quarter dividend on its common stock of $0.45 per share, which will be payable on April 15 to shareholders of record as of March 31. The Atlanta-based apartment REIT also declared a regular quarterly dividend of $1.0625 per share on its 8.5 percent Series A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock, which will be payable on March 31 to shareholders of record as of March 15. Post Properties ranks as one of the nation's biggest developers and managers of upscale apartment communities, with a portfolio of more than 22,400 apartments in 62 communities.
Web Link | Return to Headlines
Legislative/Legal News
NAA and NMHC Press Congress for New Solutions to Housing Woes
Digested From "Housing Crisis Calls for New Solutions, Apartment Groups Tell Congress"
Multi-Housing News (02/08)
The National Apartment Association (NAA) and the National Multi Housing Council (NMHC) wrote a statement to a Senate Finance Committee hearing on the real estate market this past week. In it, the two organizations said the worsening foreclosure crisis provides Capitol Hill legislators with the rare chance to learn from past errors and rethink the nation's housing policy. NAA and NMHC pointed out that the for-sale housing market's current woes were both foreseeable and preventable. The two groups cited warnings from as far back as four years ago by a large number of former HUD officials, housing experts and consumer organizations that the country would ultimately pay a high price for its "homeownership at any cost" policies. Jim Arbury, NAA/NMHC's senior vice president of government affairs, stated, "As Congress considers the various 'solutions' being proposed, we urge lawmakers to act deliberately and cautiously in order to avoid unintended consequences. . . . We need to acknowledge that homeownership isn't the right housing choice for all households at all points in their lives. Housing our diverse nation means having a vibrant rental market along with a functioning ownership market."
Web Link | Return to Headlines
California City Loses Court Battle Over Apartment Rents
Digested From "City Loses Court Battle Over Apartment Rents"
GlobeSt.com (02/26/08) by Brian K. Miller
Late last month in California, San Mateo Superior Court Judge Beth Larson Freeman overturned a temporary ordinance passed by the East Palo Alto City Council that restricted rent hikes beyond that laid out by the city's voter-approved rent control program. Initiated 20 years ago, the City's Rent Stabilization Ordinance each year issues a certificate to apartment owners that states what the maximum rent they can charge for each unit based on a set formula that applies a CPI increase to the previous year's rent ceiling. Beyond the year it was implemented, however, the program does not take into consideration the actual market rent being charged at the community. The court battle was waged by locally based Page Mill Properties, which had acquired more those 1,600 apartments in East Palo Alto in the last 15 months. Because the owners who sold their properties to Page Mill had yet to max out the rents--either because prospective tenants could not afford it or the communities' condition did not warrant it--the difference between the rent ceiling and market rents had increased to nearly 37 percent. Worried that Page Mill might try to "max-out" rents, East Palo Alto's City Council passed an "urgency ordinance" that restricted rent hikes to 3.2 percent above the actual rent being charged at the communities. On appeal, Freeman ruled the temporary ordinance unenforceable chiefly because the Rent Stabilization Ordinance can only be modified by voters.
Web Link | Return to Headlines
Senator Looking to Increase Access to Affordable Housing
Digested From "Cantwell Aims to Increase Access to Safe, Affordable Housing for Washington, American Families"
States News Service (02/26/08)
U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) has introduced the Affordable Housing Investment Act, which seeks to update and modernize the low-income housing tax credit with the goal of increasing the supply of affordable housing units in the country. In a statement to the Congressional Record, the legislator noted that the low-income housing tax credit program has helped create nearly 2 million homes since it was established, including about 130,000 annually for low-income families who receive restricted rents for at least 30 years. However, she declared, the program would be even more successful if it were modernized along the lines of her bill. "First, it eliminates the penalties for combining housing credits with other federal housing programs," Cantwell stated. "Second, the bill helps foster low-income community revitalization by facilitating the inclusion of child care, primary health care, recreation and other community service facilities in these projects and aiding with the specific needs for housing in rural areas." Cantwell additionally argued that the measure also preserves existing affordable housing by making it easier to rehabilitate aging properties and eliminates unnecessary inefficiencies in the tax laws. The bill, introduced on Feb. 26, has been endorsed by the National Council of State Housing Agencies, the Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition, the Housing Development Consortium, Local Initiatives Support Corporation and Impact Capital, the National Association of State and Local Equity Funds, the Seattle Housing Authority and the Washington State Housing Finance Commission.
Web Link | Return to Headlines
N.Y. Town Moves to Limit Trash Pickup at Apartment Communities
Digested From "Committee Calls for Limiting Trash Pickup at Apartment Buildings "
Kingston Daily Freeman (NY) (02/22/08) by Paul Kirby
In Kingston, N.Y., the Laws and Rules Committee of the Common Council recently clarified a city law about trash pickup at buildings that have four or more apartments. The panel recommended that municipal collections be limited but not eliminated. The action came soon after Mayor James Sottile's administration announced that it would be sending letters to owners of multi-unit dwellings informing them that city trash pickup no longer would be provided at buildings with four or more apartments, which are considered to be commercial properties. The letters, which would have been mailed to hundreds of local apartment property owners, were ultimately withheld so council members could make an effort to clarify the rules. Kingston's full Common Council is scheduled to vote on the policy on March 4.
Web Link | Return to Headlines
Virginia Panel Rejects Apartment-Related Carbon Monoxide Bill
Digested From "Panel Votes Down Carbon Monoxide Bill"
Roanoke Times (VA) (02/21/08) by Michael Sluss
The General Laws subcommittee of the Virginia House last month voted down legislation that would allow localities to require carbon monoxide detectors in residential buildings, an authority sought by Blacksburg officials after a mass poisoning at an apartment community in August 2007. The gas leak at the Collegiate Suites apartment community sent 25 residents to the hospital, with five suffering severe poisoning. In rejecting the bill, though, the panel did agree to petition the Virginia Housing Commission to study the issue at some point before 2009's General Assembly session. Commissioners have been hesitant to endorse a mandate for carbon monoxide detectors due to concerns about the reliability of devices currently available. Additionally, representatives of the various apartment and home-building groups contended that a government mandate would provide a false sense of security.
Web Link | Return to Headlines
Abstract News © Copyright 2008 INFORMATION, INC.
|