Real Estate & Construction News Roundup (5/1/24) – IMF’s Data on Housing, REITs Versus Private Real Estate, and Suburban Versus Urban Office Property Market
In our latest roundup, apartment sales fall for seventh straight quarter, raising real estate capital proves challenging, aspiring homeowners face strong obstacles, and more!
- Rent increases have softened across the U.S. over the last year, and the combination of high home prices, elevated mortgage rates and low housing inventory creates strong obstacles for aspiring homeowners. (Alex Gailey, Bankrate)
- The housing market is showing innovative efforts to combat the inventory crisis with initiatives including repurposing commercial properties into residential units. (Angel Smith, Yahoo)
- Apartment sales fell for the seventh straight quarter in Q1, dropping 25% year over year to $20.6 billion. (Leslie Shaver, Multifamily Dive)
- Raising fresh capital for private market assets proved challenging last year and real estate was hit especially hard, with capital raised falling about 41% year-over-year. (Madeline Shi, Pitchbook)
- While real estate investment trusts (REITs) are typically preferred by investors seeking to diversify their portfolios to include real estate and generate passive income, the private real estate market is also a favored alternative. (Aditi Ganguly, Yahoo)
- Office properties in suburban submarkets performed better than national averages in rent growth and vacancy rates. (Joe Burns, Facilities Dive)
- With central banks having raised interest rates significantly over the past two years to combat post-pandemic inflation, the IMF has new data showing how key housing characteristics impact the effects of monetary policy on activity. (IMF)
