This week’s top multifamily storylines include ways to make housing more affordable, product knowledge in leasing, addressing the package management burden, construction delays continue, questioning the suburban push and caring for pet-owning residents.
Inside this issue of the multifamily Industry Trends Report: making business intelligence intelligent, mixed response to Texas lifting mask mandate, residents citing pets as the reason they had to move, NMHC’s expanded commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, the merger of RPM and CF Real Estate Services and single-family rental values.
According to the Multifamily Pet Policies and Amenities Survey recently released by PetScreening and J Turner Research, 26% of pet-owning respondents indicated they acquired their pet during the pandemic. The rate climbs to 39% when narrowing down to student-only respondents.
Data from the Pet-Inclusive Housing Initiative reveals nearly one in four apartment residents say their pet has been a reason for needing to move. The 24% figure translates to approximately 5.5 million renting households that have been displaced or voluntarily sought a new home as a result of their pet.
The recently unveiled Multifamily Pet Policies and Amenities survey, conducted by PetScreening and J Turner Research and featuring the feedback of nearly 23,000 apartment residents, found that non-pet-owning residents are reasonably agreeable with a community’s pet population.
For decades, pet policies were something of a cookie-cutter concept at apartment communities: Only certain breeds, only certain sizes and a limit of one or two pets per household. Those standard policies, have become antiquated as pet owners constitute one of the fastest growing segments in rental housing.
While breeds are most commonly restricted due to their perceived propensity for aggression, restrictions regarding size are just as prevalent. Large breeds often find themselves on restricted lists simply because they usually exceed 50 pounds.
Seeing that nearly 70% of residents are pet owners—that’s more than two-thirds of a community’s population—it makes sense that pet data would be tracked in the same way. Those who do aim to track pet data often do so in haphazard fashion.