2021 NMHC Top 50 Owners

While MAA remains in the top position on the 2021 NMHC Top 50 Owners list with 100,490 units owned, large portfolio expansions in 2020 have created significant shifts in the top four. Morgan Properties acquired another 20,000 units over the last year, moving from fifth to second on the list at 90,617, while Starwood Capital Group acquired roughly 14,000 new units, moving from fourth to third. AvalonBay Communities has moved from third to fourth with 80,094 units owned, relatively close to last year’s count.

Nuveen Real Estate, a $1.2 trillion for-profit investment manager on behalf of TIAA, has executed one of the steepest jumps to the top, moving from No. 22 with 49,401 units owned in 2019 to No. 13 with 60,201 units owned as of Jan. 1. The company invests across a variety of sectors, including fixed income, equity, and real estate, and has $128 billion in real estate assets under management worldwide across over 2,000 properties, of which over 1,400 are located in the U.S.

“Last year, we did approximately $900 million in transactions between acquisition and disposition,” says Nikita Rao, Nuveen managing director, portfolio management, housing, real estate, Americas. “Within housing specifically, we have $22 billion of assets under management between debt and equity. This is across 322 investments, or over 100,000 units.”

Rao has worked with Nuveen for three years, overseeing and leading its open-end core multifamily fund, launched two years ago.

Nuveen focuses on middle-income and workforce housing strategies, with an emphasis on renters by necessity. “Six or seven years ago, we went to a sector-specific model on the real estate side,” Rao says. “We have a dedicated team for every sector, including housing. The reason we went to that model is because a sector specialist will outperform a generalist. We want a team that will wake up every morning thinking about multifamily, where and what we should be investing in, and how to execute and operate those investments. We also have a boots-on-the-ground approach, because we know real estate is a local business.”

Over the course of the pandemic, the company turned its focus to operations—not just in terms of returns, but also supporting staff as essential workers and keeping residents safe. “We were highly focused on resident communication and engagement,” she says. “We tracked rent collections daily and remained flexible working with those that needed help. We also quickly switched to virtual leasing and self-guided tours.” This has allowed Nuveen to remain active on the transaction side, Rao says, with some caution associated with the uncertainty of the current environment.

Looking forward, the residential team has an ambitious goal for 2021—$1.7 billion in transaction volume. “We do believe that there’s very pent-up demand for housing, with new household formations post-pandemic. When you look, barriers to homeownership remain quite high, especially in large apartment markets,” Rao says. “Our other goal is to continue to utilize our boots-on-the-ground approach, as well as use data and analytics to determine which markets we want to invest in. We’ll utilize some of the lessons we’ve learned over the last year—both tech-related such as online leasing and self-guided tours, but also [lessons in] resident focus, to help satisfy some of those new demand requirements that we’re seeing in today’s environment.”