Multifamily market conditions have continued to weaken, according to the National Multifamily Housing Council’s quarterly survey of apartment market conditions for July.
All four of the survey’s indices remained well below the break-even level of 50.
“Both debt and equity capital continue to pull back from the apartment market amid an environment of rising interest rates and slowing rent growth,” said Caitlin Sugrue Walter, NMHC’s vice president of research. “As a result, transaction volume fell for the fifth consecutive quarter, with current apartment owners unwilling to offer the lower prices buyers deem necessary to compensate for this diminished economic outlook.”
She added that, as the Federal Reserve nears the end of its tightening cycle, a small but growing share of respondents are starting to report a pickup in apartment deal flow.
Findings from the survey, which was conducted between July 10 and 17 with 88 CEOs and other senior executives of apartment-related firms nationwide, include:
The Market Tightness Index came in at 26, indicating looser market conditions for the fourth consecutive quarter. More than half of the survey respondents, 57%, reported that market conditions were looser than three months ago, while only 9% cited tighter conditions. The remaining 34% said they thought conditions were unchanged.
The Sales Volume Index was 40, marking the fifth consecutive quarter of decreasing transaction flow; however, this had less consensus than prior quarters. Over one-third of respondents, 35%, reported lower sales volume, which is down from 56% of respondents in April and 82% in January. Nearly half of respondents, 47%, reported no change in volume, while 14% said the volume was higher than three months ago.
The Equity Financing Index at 22 indicated that equity financing was less available for the sixth consecutive quarter. More than half of respondents, 57%, reported that equity financing was less available than three months ago, while 40% reported unchanged availability.
The Debt Financing index came in at 18—the eighth consecutive quarter for debt financing to be less available. Over two-thirds of respondents, 67%, indicated that now is a worse time to borrow than it was three months ago, while 3% of respondents reported better conditions; 26% reported unchanged conditions.
