News & Trends

Are there signs that bubbles are brewing in the home flipping industry, writes one real estate consultant, or in real estate careers or in mortgages that are getting more creative?

One sign may be that television reality shows about home flipping continue to expand. Also, when consultants hear flight attendants talk about getting their real estate licenses, it could be another sign.

Real estate consultant John Burns writes in his latest email newsletter that reality television shows have been fueling the home flipping industry. “These television shows captive audiences and have led to a potential bubble in the home flipping industry that is being financed by hard-money loans financed by non-banks,” he writes.

Total new construction starts in March increased 5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $743.7 billion, marking the third straight monthly gain, according to a release from Dodge Data & Analytics.  

Meanwhile, residential building in March registered moderate growth, helped by a rebound for multifamily housing after a subdued February.

Residential building, at $310.8 billion (annual rate), grew 4% in March. 

 "The pattern for construction starts in early 2017, with three straight monthly gains, is the reverse of the three straight monthly declines that closed out 2016,"  Robert A. Murray, chief economist for Dodge Data & Analytics, said in the release.

A 408-unit luxury Arizona multifamily property has sold for $55.2 million, according to Institutional Property Advisors (IPA).

Indigo Creek, a 408-unit multifamily property in the Arrowhead area of Glendale, Arizona, was sold at a price that represents more than $135,000 per unit.

“Indigo Creek is a vibrant, luxury multifamily asset that provides new ownership with the opportunity to enhance revenue through the continued implementation of the apartment interior renovation program,” Steve Gebing, IPA senior director, said in a release.

Rental Housing Journal is excited to announce MultiFamily Traffic as our SEO partner.

MultiFamily Traffic specializes in ranking property management & apartment industry websites at the top of Google, Yahoo and Bing search results, and will provide our readers and customers with the best results in the industry.

MultiFamily Traffic ranks your website at the top of Google, driving renters to your property, so you can sign more leases, and driving customers to your site, so you can boom more business. 

Whether you are a single community, portfolio, or a vendor that services apartments, MultiFamily Traffic will bring you more renters, more business, more customers with less effort. 

This year marks the 49^th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act, landmark legislation that became law on April 11, 1968, according to a release.

 The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) kicked off Fair Housing Month 2017 at its national headquarters. This year’s theme is Fair Housing Equals Opportunity, highlighting equality in housing as a foundation upon which aspirations can be achieved and affirming the Fair Housing Act’s ongoing role in confronting housing discrimination, according to the release.

A bill that lifts the ban on statewide rent control and leaves the rent control issue up to cities has passed the Oregon House 31-27 and now heads to the Senate, according to reports.

The bill, HB 2004,  that passed also prohibits no-cause evictions. Two Democrats joined every Republican in voting against the measure. It now heads to the Oregon Senate.

The measure would allow cities and counties to enact local ordinances that would control how much landlords could raise rents each year, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported.  Currently, there’s a statewide ban on such ordinances.

A company specializing in value-added multifamily investments has purchased a 406-unit infill apartment community in Orange County, California, according to a release.

The Villas at Tustin Apartments were acquired by The Bascom Group, LLC  and are located in the heart of Orange County. The $94 million sale, or $231,527 per unit, closed on March 28, 2017. 

Villas at Tustin was constructed in 1972 and is located at 2414 N. Tustin Avenue, Santa Ana, California.

 "Villas at Tustin is one of the best investment opportunities we have seen in Orange County. Villas is in a great location with easy access to the 55, 22, 91, and 5 freeways,   Chad Sanderson, Senior Principal for Bascom said in the release.

RealPage and Axiometrics report that apartment occupancy is dropping as more than 164,000 apartment units were finished in the past six months, a time of traditionally slow leasing in the industry, but overall rents continue to grow.

 “Occupancy remains solid relative to the long-term norm, but there are lots of available units at just-completed projects,” Jay Denton, vice president of RealPage’s Axiometrics business group, said in a release. “Also, top-tier existing projects are losing performance momentum for the first time in this market cycle. Some renters from established luxury projects are opting for the newest deliveries in order to take advantage of rent discounts often offered during the initial lease-up process.”

The West Coast has many of the most robust apartment markets in the nation, but the two most influential metros, Los Angeles and San Francisco, have been in a bit of a slump lately, according to a new report from Axiometrics.

Evan Downey of Axiometrics reports that while the West Coast markets fueled the historic performance of the national apartment market in 2014 and 2015. Many of those markets however are smaller, secondary markets.

Among the current western powerhouses, only Seattle and Anaheim could be considered primary markets.  Los Angeles proper and the San Francisco Bay Area have fallen back.

The story of the Bay Area has often been told from double-digit rent growth in 2015 to negative rent growth in late 2016.

City of Portland housing officials admit they exaggerated the number of apartments with code violations needing repairs saying now the number is only 19 and not the 400 as originally reported, according to an investigation by Oregonlive.com.

Housing officials did the estimate of 400 needing repair, in order to get a $500,000 grant.

What appeared to be a bargain - paying landlords for repairs if they agreed to keep rents low - got caught up in the situation of bogus numbers.

According to the newspaper, the Portland Housing Bureau wanted city money to clean up code violations at low-income apartments east of 82^nd Avenue. They claimed 400 properties in east Portland had been flagged for urgent repairs, when the actual number at the time was 19, according to an analysis by The Oregonian/OregonLive.