When building for tomorrow, multifamily developers must weigh the pros and cons of utilizing next-generation products and decide what will provide the biggest bang for their buck.
The good news, according to a recent survey, is that almost two-thirds of multifamily professionals say they expect the average return on investment (ROI) on next-gen products to exceed 11% over standard products. This includes 5.7% of the respondents who expect the ROI to be 50% or more than that of a standard product.
The Farnsworth Group, our data partner on the 2017 MFE Concept Community, conducted the survey, examining usage and perceptions regarding next-gen building performance. This year’s survey received online responses from 159 multifamily builders, developers, and architects.
Appliances top the list for the next-gen products with the highest ROI, with 18.2% of respondents ranking the category first, followed by HVAC systems and utility management. Also ranking high among respondents' top three choices are lighting fixtures and flooring.
Apartment units featuring next-gen products help bring in higher rents—13.8% higher, on average, than typical apartment units.
Over two-thirds of multifamily professionals say they achieve higher rents at least some of the time when renting units with next-gen products. Breaking this down further, 27% report they achieve higher rents most of the time, while 6.3% say they always get the higher rents.
Over the coming weeks and months, we’ll continue to share more tidbits and stats from the survey in anticipation of the annual Multifamily Executive Conference, which will be held Sept. 18–20 at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.
