The Gray Report Podcast

Gray Report guest Paul Bergeron works at the nexus of information on the multifamily market, gathering data and opinions on the most important events in multifamily and commercial real estate. Gray Capital President and CEO Spencer Gray speaks with Paul about his experience reporting on CRE as well as the major issues currently shaping the multifamily industry. Paul Bergeron LinkedIn Profile: http...

Comments from Fed chair Jerome Powell indicate that we are headed towards even higher interest rates, which will almost certainly present a larger obstacle for potential sellers of apartment properties looking to wait out current conditions and avoid selling in a softening market. Recent reports on housing demand, on the other hand, support continued strong fundamentals for multifamily assets. Sou...

Gray Capital President and CEO Spencer Gray speaks with Igor Popov, Chief Economist at Apartment, to explain the crucial trends driving housing, apartments, and the economy in 2023.   Apartment List Research: https://www.apartmentlist.com/research   For the latest multifamily news from across the internet, visit the Gray Report website: https://www.grayreport.com/   Sign up for our...

Declining asset prices for commercial real estate, noted in several new reports as well as the recently-published minutes from last month's meeting of the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee, have been a long-expected eventuality ever since interest rates began rising last year. While apartment asset prices are beginning to soften, strong fundamentals and positive rent growth trends could lead b...

As the multifamily market slowly emerges from a sluggish winter, investors are diligently searching for buying opportunities. Analysts continue to look for the most likely markets to find distressed assets, and some investors are looking into digital metaverse real estate which, while infinitely more available than real-world multifamily properties, is severely lacking in the ability to provide sh...

The recent CPI report showed a nominal decrease in inflation compared to last year, but its 0.5% monthly increase is a sign that the inflation cooldown is going to be a bumpy ride. While those following the apartment market are familiar with the roughly 1-year lag between market rent growth and CPI-measured rent growth, it is worth noting that the still-high rent growth numbers in the CPI are expe...

Investors and buyers wait eagerly for signs of distressed deals, price discovery, and activity in the sluggish market, but the multifamily market and the economy as a whole have been showing signs of resilience that are at odds with earlier, more pessimistic projections. Declining rent growth looks to have tapered off, and while recent strong job growth has caused some inflation worries, the favor...

Yardi Matrix Director of U.S. Research, Paul Fiorilla, joins Gray Capital President and CEO Spencer Gray in a conversation about the factors driving the multifamily market and what to expect as the year progresses. Sources discussed in this episode: Yardi Matrix: "December 2023 National Multifamily Report" - https://www.yardimatrix.com/publications/download/file/3335-MatrixMultifamilyNationalRepor...

As multifamily industry leaders gather for the NMHC Conference in Las Vegas, the market remains in a tenuous state, with confidence in apartment fundamentals alongside uncertainty about the economy. Additionally, the Federal Reserve's recent 0.25% rate hike could point to a forthcoming taper and decrease in interest rates as the year progresses, but the Fed's actions will likely do little in the n...

Director of Research & Analysis, Carl Whitaker, joins Gray Capital President and CEO Spencer Gray to discuss major trends, markets, and metrics to follow in 2023. Sources discussed in this episode:   RealPage: "Three Types of Apartment Markets That Could Outperform in 2023" - https://www.realpage.com/analytics/three-types-of-markets-that-could-outperform-in-2023/   RealPage: "Three T...

Forecasts continue to provide a clearer view of the major factors expected to drive multifamily fundamentals in 2023, and the investment market is waiting for the kinds of sales activity that will clarify a pricing environment that is still adjusting to the escalating interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve. Additionally, the as-yet-unknown timing and severity of a potential recession, even a...

Projections for multifamily performance in 2023 hew far closer to historical averages than in past years, and the potential for recession has played a major role in experts' predictions for the multifamily market. With incoming apartment supply expected to make a big impact on markets throughout the country, insights into the drivers of housing demand, like those found in a new report on household...

The apartment market has shifted in a number of ways, not the least of which is moderating national rent growth, but the U.S. national average obscures a marked reshuffling among individual multifamily markets in the country. Less volatile markets that saw slower growth in 2021 and early 2022 have risen to the top of rent growth rankings, while the hyper-growth remote working destinations of yeste...

Among the many recent outlooks and projections for the multifamily market this year, some predictions will naturally be more accurate than others. The Gray Capital team discusses the state of the multifamily market and different visions for the markets and trends that will be the most prominent in 2023. For the latest multifamily news from across the internet, visit the Gray Report website: https:...

Some impactful trends of 2022 may not be as prominent next year. For example, this year's dramatic interest rate increases are expected to plateau and 2022's high levels of inflation will likely to decrease in 2023. That being said, many of the major forces driving the multifamily market will continue. The critically low supply of housing may not have gotten as much attention in light of the decli...

A working paper from the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland outlines a new way of measuring rent growth with strong implications for how economic policy makers understand and track inflation, Fannie Mae's most recent commentary on the multifamily market reviews the housing implications associated with the growth of the 75+ population, Japan's bond market shifts signal greater concerns about inflati...

The Federal Reserve is raising rates another 50 basis points, the CPI report is showing inflation cooling, and multifamily investors and industry leaders are making predictions for the apartment market and commercial real estate in the year to come. Expectations of a serious economic downturn next year have lessened, and while financing will remain a challenge in 2023, strong apartment demand will...

Investor capital flowing out of major real estate investment trusts like Blackstone's BREIT and Starwood's SREIT may cause some anxiety about the state of the multifamily market, but there is very little indication that these issues in the REIT space will have a meaningful impact on apartment asset prices. The issues affecting these REITs are the same ones driving the commercial real estate market...

Reports on the apartment market continue to show declining rent performance at the national level, but there is considerable variation among different markets, with midwestern markets receiving more attention for their strong, positive performance compared to many of the previously high performing markets in the South and West. In the broader economy, middling jobs numbers could mean that the Fede...

Interest rate pressures have settled the multifamily market considerably since the beginning of 2022, but the size and persistence of the housing shortage and unaffordability crisis all but ensures that home values will remain elevated in the future. While near-term economic uncertainty continues, the fundamentals of the multifamily market remain strong. For the latest multifamily news from across...

As investors slow down activity amid an uncertain economy and a multifamily market that continues to moderate, real opportunities for investment remain in a number of specific markets throughout the country. The rent growth story of 2022 has diverged significantly from 2021, and many of the markets with incredible growth last year have slowed down significantly in 2022, especially in the past few...

As the results of the midterm elections point to a likely-divided Congress at the federal level, local ballot measures across the country bring changes to a number of markets, with some cities enacting rent control measures, dedicating money to building additional housing, or discouraging homeowners from leaving a property vacant for extended periods. While these policy changes are limited to spec...

The Federal Reserve has raised interest rates by another 75 basis points even as the economy and the housing market in particular have not fully absorbed the rate accumulating rate hikes from earlier this year in 2022. Reports published this week show lower sentiment in the multifamily market alongside slightly stronger seasonal rent trends, but other recent reports serve as a reminder of the resi...

Recent Case-Schiller figures show single family home prices continuing to slide downwards, and discussions of a deflating housing bubble have steadily increased. At the same time, multifamily fundamentals are still strong, and while rising mortgage rates are a major factor in declining single family home prices, apartment demand should remain high given that mortgage rates are not a factor in rent...

While the Consumer Price Index recorded a substantial .8% monthly increase in rent prices, these historically-lagging figures are at odds with apartment industry reports showing moderating rent growth over the past few months. Even so, the positive long-term prospects for multifamily are reinforced by new research suggesting that the 15-year trend of declining U.S. birth rates may be reversing for...