The most important multifamily news of the week: leasing lessons learned during the pandemic, event opportunities this spring, single-family rental operators becoming common buyers of new homes, rent prices show largest jump in April since 2017, NAHB asks Biden administration to address lumber costs, and investors are walking away from ‘walkability.’
This week’s top storylines in multifamily: trends in post-pandemic rental housing, consumer demand for environmentally conscious designs, the nuances of assistance animals in rental housing revealed, smart rent goes public in $2.2 billion merger, developers struggling with lumber prices and an increase in demand for multifamily professionals.
Assistance animals qualify as one of the more complicated topics in rental housing. Operators constantly wrestle with the distinctions between service and support animals, what qualifies as legitimate documentation and how to most efficiently manage their verification processes.
The most important multifamily headlines of the week: short-term rentals are here to stay, how to attract and convert prospects with your property website, the power of ‘and’ for multifamily operators, developers are struggling to build garden-style communities, keeping expenses in check in an uncertain market and making a statement on DE&I.
By this I mean operators too often think of implementing solutions as an either/or scenario: should we offer guided tours or self-guided tours? Should we have prospects interact with chatbots or leasing agents over the phone? The answer in these situations is almost always “both.”
This week’s top multifamily storylines: study shows more renters moved in 2020 despite the pandemic, the complexity of apartment companies requiring vaccines, average rent due to exceed $6K for those behind on rent, LeaseLock hits $1B in leases insured, Lincoln gets ready to acquire Excelsior Multifamily and affordable housing set to get a boost from Biden’s infrastructure plan.
Short-term rentals for multifamily are proving to be resilient through the pandemic and beyond with revenue-share based models emerging as the best approach. And the demand for flexible, furnished rentals is accelerating, making STRs a must-have for many apartment operators.
The top multifamily headlines this week: COVID’s impact on rent varies by neighborhood, the most common mistakes of a smart home retrofit for multifamily, smart access control provides assistance during pandemic, the top markets for apartment net absorption, the extension of the federal eviction moratorium and the strength of affordable housing lending.
The insurtech start-up LeaseLock is breaking new ground. The company has officially surpassed $1 billion in leases insured, an impressive milestone that comes only five months after the company achieved $500 million in leases insured.
The retrofit process requires careful consideration and planning. While the cost savings and improvements made possible through smart home implementation are attractive, missteps in deployment could result in unnecessary expense and performance problems.