Industry News | Wk of February 4

HOT & RELEVANT TOPICS

California Home to Six of the 10 Most Expensive Rental Markets
Prop 10 might have been defeated in California in November, but that hasn’t gotten the state’s rental rates out of the headlines. Rental rates across the nation were fairly flat in January, but a slight shift moved Santa Ana into the Top 10 most expensive markets, giving California six on the list. San Francisco continues to lead the way, as the average one-bedroom home rents for $3,580 and the average two-bedroom for $4,640. San Jose (No. 3) and Los Angeles (No. 5) also cracked the top five. Read Kelsey Ramirez’s article in Housingwire.

High-Tech Amenities: More Than a Trend
While basic tech amenities such as Wi-Fi have become standard in the apartment market, others are starting to reach “must-have” status as well. With the work-from-home trend continually rising, amenities such as tech-enabled co-working spaces with laser-fast gigabyte speeds are becoming integral. And while resident-focused tech, such as smart-home products, help fill communities, operation teams can benefit from smart-building tech to remotely adjust heating, cooling, lights and more. Read Xfinity Communities’ Adrian Adriano’s Q & A in Multi-Housing News.

How an Apt Logo’s Font
Can Appeal to Millennials
It’s one of the subtleties of marketing – the font used on branding materials. According to The Cut online magazine, traditional serif fonts aren’t ultra-popular among millennials. Helvetica, meanwhile, is becoming overused by fashion brands including Balmain, Burberry and Balenciaga. It matters – even if subliminally so – to consumers, including those hunting for apartments. Millennials are often drawn to sans serif font – such as those utilized by Target, Hulu, Xbox and Starbucks – and the Myriad font adopted by Apple in 2003. Read Paul R. Bergeron’s article in UNITS magazine.

IN THE NEWS

The 2018 ORA Elite 1%: Nation’s Top 100 Communities by Online Reputation
ORA’s Power Ranking of online reputation has become a gold standard for apartment communities across the nation. The latest annual ranking, unveiled late last month, notes that 1,234 communities of the 101,000-plus monitored achieved the coveted “Elite 1%” designation. The Courts of Devon, a Gaithersburg, Md. community managed by The Bozzuto Group, earned the top spot with a 98 ORA Ranking. The community climbed from fifth place on last year’s list. View the entire Top 100 in Joseph Batdorf’s article in Multifamily Executive.

The Tightest Industrial Markets in the U.S.
The national vacancy rate rose to 4.9 in Q4 of 2018, a fairly significant rise from the low-water mark of 4.1 in 2016. But many markets seem immune to rising vacancy rates and are continuing to fill their communities. In a list compiled National Real Estate Investor, the 25 tightest markets in the nation are all enjoying a vacancy rate of 3.8 percent or less. Leading the way is Providence, RI, with a nearly unheard of 0.3 rate, followed by Savannah. Ga. (0.5) and Los Angeles (1.5). View the entire list in NREI.

Freddie Mac Sets Multifamily Production Record
Freddie Mac’s multifamily line of business one-upped its 2017 record production by accruing $77.5 billion in loan purchase and guarantee volume for 2018, a year-over-year rise of more than $4 million. The government-sponsored enterprise also made equity investments of $500 million toward the lower-income housing tax credit sector – the company’s first LIHTC investments since 2008. Freddie Mac reached several additional milestones in 2018, including $23.1 billion in Green Advantage loans for energy and water improvements to workforce housing. Read the article in Affordable Housing Finance.