Investors housing dollars in apartments

Apartments, distressed condominiums and senior housing — if it's residential, chances are its selling along the entire Gulf Coast. Multifamily, the drab, dead-end investment of the early 2000s, is now the investment du jour of everyone from institutional to mom-and-pop buyers. Occupancies are growing locally just as they are nationally, and with the shake up in the foreclosure housing crisis and associated residential devaluations, there is a large and growing population of renters.
This rental pool is hard to calculate locally, but David Brickman, Freddie Mac's senior vice president of multifamily, says nationally, in just the 12 months ended in June, 1.4 million households moved into the rental housing market. He says that: “. . . $1 trillion in capital and 10 million additional apartment units are needed in the next 10 years as more individuals turn to apartment living.”

WHAT'S HOT: Class A properties and top-tier locations, although the supply of these is low. Additionally, properties with in-place income and distressed prices are popular.

WHAT'S NOT: Depressed geographic areas are still depressing rent rolls and have hurting occupancies. Over-priced properties and sub B-grade properties are also stagnant.