The Radix Review: Multifamily Trends Explained

This is a narration of our weekly Rent and Operating Trends Report. New home sales reached another low in April, as persistently high mortgage rates cut into for sale housing demand in a meaningful way. However, driven heavily by immigration, continued household formation and aging Millennials, overall housing demand remains strong. Thus, rental demand is elevated, helping to buffer the apartment...

In this week's episode of the Radix Review: Multifamily Trends Explained, Jay shares some local insights on the Austin market following a recent trip to the Texas Capital. Heavy new supply and some economic crosswinds leave Austin in a precarious place as multifamily fundamentals have struggled of late. Chris breaks down the recent state employment data from the BLS. Texas and Florida led the...

This is a narration of our weekly Rent and Operating Trends Report. The Consumer Price Index met economists’ expectations last week and inflation cooled modestly. Prices grew at an annualized rate of 3.4% in the 12 months ending in April, marking the first time since last December that annual inflation dropped. With that said, I do not expect the Fed to alter its path of monetary policy and we wil...

Jay and Chris are back with another episode of the Radix Review: Multifamily Trends Explained. This week they share some good news on the rent and occupancy front. Occupancy has been increasing steadily throughout 2024 as it nears 94% once again. Rents picked up 20 basis points last week and continue to show signs of growth in the spring. Diving deeper into the rent data, larger units have outperf...

This is a narration of our weekly Rent and Operating Trends Report. New jobless claims rose to their highest level since August last week, as more than 230,000 people filed a new unemployment claim. While the increase in unemployment claims, paired with the slowdown in job creation in April may appear alarming, the employment market remains in a solid position. The Consumer Price Index comes out o...

Chris and Jay are back to talk about the recent earnings reports from the publicly traded REITs. We discuss key takeaways on the revenue and expense side and dive into some of the regions that are performing well and some that are struggling.  We then cover a few midwestern and southeastern markets that we have recently seen and comment on the current state of supply and its impact on property per...

This is a narration of our weekly Rent and Operating Trends Report. The employment market softened in April as 175,000 new jobs were added last month. This marks a significant slowdown to the torrid pace set during the prior three months of 2024, but does not warrant huge concern for the state of the economy, at least not yet. The U.S. job market has still added nearly one million jobs so far this...

In the first episode of a new podcast series from Radix Research, co-hosts Chris Nebenzahl and Jay Denton cover the key trends impacting multifamily in April. They also take a deep dive into the recently released April jobs report and discuss the Fed meeting which wrapped up last week. To close out the pod they leave things on a light note and share their predictions for the Kentucky Derby! Check...

This is a narration of our weekly Rent and Operating Trends Report. When the Fed will cut interest rates is anyone’s best guess as conflicting market indicators continue to muddy the waters of monetary policy decision making. The likelihood of a rate cut in Q2 was dealt another blow last week when the Personal Consumption Expenditures Index came in higher than economists’ expectations. As the pref...

This is a narration of our weekly Rent and Operating Trends Report. As the U.S. economy continues to progress steadily, the public eye will likely shift toward the upcoming election and geopolitical risk that has emerged in recent months and years. Congress just passed an additional aid bill for Ukraine and has been involved indirectly in the growing conflict in the middle east. Both wars will be...

This is a narration of our weekly Rent and Operating Trends Report. As the U.S. economy continues to defy expectations both from a strong employment market and a persistent inflation perspective, economists are asking what is driving these trends. Many point to a recent report from the Congressional Budget Office indicating that more than 3 million immigrants entered the U.S. last year, well above...

This is a narration of our weekly Rent and Operating Trends Report. The macro economy continues to defy economist expectations and remains in very strong condition as we start the second quarter. March job growth exceeded 300,000, making it the strongest month of the year and bringing year-to-date job growth above 800,000. For context, at the beginning of the year, the Wall Street Journal polled 6...

This is a narration of our weekly Rent and Operating Trends Report. The U.S. economy ended the first quarter on strong footing with most economic indicators reporting growth. The final estimate of Q4 GDP showed the economy expanded at a 3.4% annualized rate, bringing the 2023 full year growth to 3.1%. Despite restrictive monetary policy, economic growth continues to outperform. Job growth remains...

This is a narration of our weekly Rent and Operating Trends Report. As expected, the Federal Reserve kept interest rates steady last week, but many Fed officials still predict multiple rate cuts this year. Investors responded favorably and the stock market reached new highs after the announcement. In addition to lowering the mortgage rate for single-family home purchases, lower interest rates woul...

This is a narration of our weekly Rent and Operating Trends Report. Domestic migration and population growth are key drivers of multifamily demand, and the Census Bureau released its 2023 county level population statistics last week. These data provide insight into which local areas are experiencing the fastest growth and which areas are struggling with outmigration. Overall, many of the same tren...

This is a narration of our weekly Rent and Operating Trends Report. Despite a significant downward revision to the January numbers, the February jobs report provided further evidence of an extremely robust labor market. 275,000 jobs were added last month, and more than half a million jobs have been added so far this year. The unemployment rate ticked up modestly but remains low by historical stand...

This is a narration of our weekly Rent and Operating Trends Report. The U.S. economy remains on firm and stable footing through the early part of 2024. GDP was revised slightly downward last week, but economic growth for the fourth quarter remains well above the long-term average. A few Fed governors will speak this week, highlighted by Chair Powell’s Congressional testimony on Thursday. We will s...

This is a narration of our weekly Rent and Operating Trends Report. The 2024 presidential election is about 8 months away and political and fiscal issues are beginning to take center stage for the American consumer. The economy remains strong with steady GDP growth, a tight labor market and generally softening inflation, but issues including a government shutdown, international aid and foreign pol...

This is a narration of our weekly Rent and Operating Trends Report. In the wake of a higher-than-expected inflation report, the theme from many Fed Governors last week was patience in determining when the first interest rate hike would be. The Consumer Price Index came in higher than many economists expected for January, which led to an equity market sell off and an increase in treasury yields. Bo...

This is a narration of our weekly Rent and Operating Trends Report. It was a quiet week in the economy last week, and most indicators continued their slow and steady growth. All eyes will be on inflation this week from a quantitative perspective. From a qualitative perspective, many of the Fed Governors are slated to speak at various events. While I don’t suspect any specific commentary on the tim...

This is a narration of our weekly Rent and Operating Trends Report. In a rare interview on Sunday evening, Fed Chair Jerome Powell explained on 60 Minutes that the Fed is now planning its first interest rate cut since 2020. Most economists expected rate cuts in 2024, however it is abnormal for the Fed Chair to speak publicly on the matter, especially outside of a policy meeting press conference. W...

This is a narration of our weekly Rent and Operating Trends Report. Will you be at NMHC this week? If so, come find us. Blerim Zeqiri, Brad Cribbins, Jay Denton, and I will be at the Apartment Strategies conference and the annual meeting. We would love to share what 2024 has in store for Radix and the multifamily industry. The economy chugs along with a strong foundation in employment and improvin...

This is a narration of our weekly Rent and Operating Trends Report. The Radix team will be at the NMHC annual meeting next week and we would love to see you there. If you’ll be in attendance please reach out. We will be sharing market insight and forecasts as well as upcoming product updates. We are also excited to open several new markets in Radix Research. Our coverage continues to expand across...

This is a narration of our weekly Rent and Operating Trends Report. The U.S. economy was thrown a slight curveball last week when the December Consumer Price Index came in higher than expected. Inflation increased at an annualized rate of 3.4% marking a modest uptick from previous months. Driving the growth was a 0.4% increase in the shelter index, which relates directly to the cost of housing. Ho...

This is a narration of our weekly Rent and Operating Trends Report. The first week of 2024 was a mixed bag from an economic perspective. Major equity indices sold off to start the year, led by the tech sector. There has been some concern that the stock market became overvalued after a surprising and very strong 2023. However, late last week the December jobs numbers supported the continued strengt...