Bell Controls 70k Apartments, Owns Significant Portion
Big deal in apartment world. Bell manages 70k apartment units and owns a good sized chunk as well. https://t.co/OJW8Os8jr6
Rent Control Myths: Government Can't Build Enough, Developers Won't Stay
The arguments that rent control does NOT disrupt housing supply boils down to two (bad) theories: 1) The government can build enough for everyone. 2) The private sector is just bluffing when they say they'll pull back in cities with rent control.
Renters Rights Act Hurting London Rental Supply, Data Mis
This is so terribly misleading. 1) This is ALL housing, not just rentals. 2) Even so, London rental supply DID fall last year largely due to the "Renters Rights Act," which swings pendulum so far that it's disincentivizing rental supply.
Housing Ratios Ignore Location and Unit Condition
This is why it's really dumb to look at population-to-housing ratios or compare homelessness to vacancy. You have to account for: A) location / neighborhood (growing areas versus shrinking areas), and B) condition / age of housing unit.
Regulatory Spotlight Shifts From Single-Family Rentals to Apartments
My latest newsletter: The regulatory spotlight shifts from single-family rentals to apartments. Also, I dug into Sen. Warren's letters probing rental housing investors, which include 7 claims that may sound alarming but that lack critical context needed for a real discussion....
Warren's Misleading Threats Could Reduce Housing Supply
This is wild. Senator Warren is now threatening apartment developers and investors, too, with a letter chock-full of misinformation. Such threats can scare off development capital, and they just shift to building warehouses or something else. But America's renters become collateral...
Spring Leasing Lags Behind Last Year, Vacancy Trends Unclear
New data from Radix (apartment data provider) shows no sign yet of a spring leasing bump -- and, in fact, a slower start to the spring leasing season than what we saw at the same time last year. We'll get data...
YIMBYs Reject Senator Warren's NIMBY Conference Proposal
I am glad to see pro-housing YIMBY groups refuse to go along with a very NIMBY request from Senator Warren. What a wild thing to even request. Why would any honest YIMBY refuse to call for a conference that could lead...
Proposed ROAD Act Threatens Rental Development Capital
The ROAD to Housing Act is already freezing up development capital -- and it's not even enacted yet. Build-to-rent developers say equity capital is essentially frozen, lenders are "pausing" on new projects, and new starts potentially imperiled. Much frustration not only with...
Senate's BTR Ban Overlooks 50k Units Annual Impact
On the Senate's build-to-rent ban, I see some argue "it's a small sector so it's not a big deal." As a % of market, it's small. But 50k units / year is material. And if you think all those units will...
Bad Housing Ideas Stall Construction Before Policy Passes
Policymakers and media, generally speaking, underestimate the power of bad ideas on housing -- even prior to becoming formal policy. Examples: 1) Boston rent control ballot measure is shutting off construction even prior to vote. 2) ROAD to (Less) Housing Act is scaring...
Support ROAD to Housing Act to Boost Build‑to‑Rent
Honored to join @johnburnsjbrec and other housing researchers in this open letter advocating for the ROAD to Housing Act to remove supply-crushing restrictions on build-to-rent constructions. https://t.co/q7keYTNVFJ
Housing Act Will Reduce Housing Supply
Good news for pro-housing and pro-science peeps. Bad news for NIMBYs. ROAD to Housing Act = ROAD to Less Housing.
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Renters relocating from California prefer Texas and Nevada. Renters relocating from New York prefer Florida and New Jersey. Interesting data from Apartment List. https://t.co/qJvXYBSwxJ
More Rental Units Drag Single-Family Rent Growth to Decade Low
This additional rental supply is putting downward pressure on single-family rents. One reason why SFR rent growth is at 10-year low. https://t.co/wh9Qyhz6TK
Affordable Housing Mirrors Market-Rate; Myths Persist About Section 8.
Most people would never be able to tell the difference between a Class A market-rate apartment project and a modern affordable housing development. Yet affordable developers still confront myths all the time that they're building Section 8 "projects." https://t.co/2C59S50Hql
City Tackles Housing Crisis by Tracking Corporate Owners
The city that can't turn on electricity for new apartment developments is gonna solve its housing problems by tracking corporate ownership.
Policy Failures, Not Private Firms, Drive California's Insurance Crisis
California's property insurance problems are very similar to its housing problems -- an obvious consequence of bad public policy shrinking supply, and yet the private sector is often blamed for it. There is no "easy button" to solving complex problems decades...
Tax Credits Spur Family‑Focused Apartments with Playgrounds
One positive quirk to how affordable housing tax credits work: They incentivize developers to build apartments for families with kids, which in turn means developers also build kid-friendly amenities like playgrounds you wouldn't see a market-rate apartment project.
Aging Rental Stock Forces New Construction and Renovations
America's rental stock is aging. The median age of a rental unit is now 45 years old, the oldest on record, according to Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies. And that will likely have major implications on housing policy and trends...
ROAD to Housing Act Cuts Rental Supply, Not Increases
The ROAD to Housing Act is positioned as a housing supply creator, but for renters, it would unquestionably reduce supply.
Cities Must Fund Housing Solutions, Not Rely on Rent Control
There are certainly arguments for rent control but they aren't economic arguments. It's a sociological argument (and a very fair one) about displacement risk, which is real. However, the question is who should bear those costs? One could argue that if...
Rent Control Scares Investors, Stalls Boston Housing Projects
An investor who funds development told me they've delayed a Boston apartment project's start until after the election for this reason. Rent control = NIMBYism.
New Housing EO Boosts Rentals, Beats Senate's Road
I was obviously critical of his prior housing EO, but this one is actually quite good-- and more of a net boost to rental housing supply than the Senate's ROAD to Housing Act (which reduces rental supply for families who...
Manufactured‑housing REITs Already Outnumber Single‑Family Rentals
Prediction: We'll eventually see a wave of articles (followed by policymakers fretting over it) about "Wall Street" investing in manufactured housing. It'll be positioned as a "loophole" and/or consequence of the ban on single-family rentals. But it's not new at all. There...
Rent Burden Splits: <30k Earners Spend Half Income
If you want to understand America's renters, digest the implications of two charts from Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies. 1) Rent affordability is a bifurcated issue. Making >$30k? More than half your income goes to rent.. Making >$75k? You're spending...
Senate Passes ROAD to Housing; Reporters Miss Expert View
With the Senate passing the ROAD to Housing Act today, political reporters not in tune with the housing beat seem to be interpreting the legislation for how its authors are spinning it, versus what housing experts and homebuilders say it...
Homebuilders Slam “ROAD to Housing” Despite Pro‑housing Claims
Homebuilders: Build-to-rent ban isn't the only problem with "ROAD to Housing" legislation. How do you pass a supposedly pro-housing bill that is opposed by homebuilders and most housing experts/economists?
Senate's ROAD to Housing Act Threatens Ranch‑style Duplexes
This is a "ranch-style" apartment community in West Virginia, built in 1983 and once owned by an apartment REIT (Equity Residential). It features duplexes across a 92-unit property. It would become impossible to build these under the Senate's "ROAD to Housing...
Build-to-Rent Criticism Stems From Misunderstanding Its Purpose
A lot of the criticism about build-to-rent on this app is grounded in ignorance about what BTR is, who builds it, who funds it, who lives in it, and why it's appealing to the small share of families who choose...
Single-Family Rentals Decline, Challenging Neoliberal Housing Narrative
The problem with this view is that the number of single-family rental homes in the U.S. has been in decline for years, as research from Harvard, John Burns and Redfin have all shown.
Senator Schatz Calls BTR Ban Arbitrary, Soviet‑style Policy
Great point from Senator Schatz: The BTR ban "is positively Soviet-like. It is arbitrary. We have decided owning a single-family home is good. Renting is bad."
Build-to-Rent Ban Distracts From Bill’s Regressive Provisions
Welp... And the crazy thing is the rightful focus on the build-to-rent ban is taking away from from the 1000 other zany regressive aspects of this bill.
Warren’s Office Controls Investor Ban Language, Fixes Stalled
The language around the investor ban has been crafted and controlled by Senator Warren's office. Lots of groups on all sides of this issue and from both sides of aisle have pushed for common sense fixes, but with no luck...
Supply Surge, Not Weak Demand, Drives Rent Cuts
Here's a crazy-yet-telling apartment stat: Among the top 15 markets CUTTING rents, they collectively had 2x more demand (absorption) than the top 15 markets INCREASING rents. Why? Because it's all about supply, not weak demand or affordability etc. Among the top 15 markets...
NYT Highlights Housing Act, Yet Major Supply Incentives Stripped
The @nytimes dropping facts on The ROAD to Housing [Inflation] Act. Also, not enough attention going to big pro-supply provisions removed around supply incentives and zoning -- which leaves only a patchwork of incremental (though still good) pro-supply wins left in...
Senator Pushes Aggressive YIMBY Reforms While Defending Property Rights
The Senator's letter is YIMBYism on steroids: 1) Fix zoning etc and build more housing. 2) Don't open the door to the slippery slope of eroding property rights, which snowballs into reduced supply. 3) Call out misinformation that threatens supply and/or affordability.
Avoid Federal Limits on Build‑to‑Rent: Preserve Housing Supply
I deleted a couple posts criticizing a letter from 100+ YIMBY groups that was mostly quite good, but erred (IMHO) in supporting what is effectively a partial ban on build-to-rent construction. My word choices in those posts were too callous, and...
YIMBYs Paradoxically Oppose Universal Build‑to‑rent Development
Genuinely puzzled that 100+ YIMBY groups signed off on a letter that says "we should allow build-to-rent construction everywhere except not really everywhere." What the heck? YIMBYs are now NIMBYs? That is literally a tactic you criticize NIMBYs for. 🤦♂️ https://t.co/Z61eYharAp
Renovate-to-Rent Crucial as Investors Outspend Homebuyers
Encouraged to see pro-housing voices pushing to keep build-to-rent. I'd also suggest pushing to keep "renovate-to-rent." Three things: 1) Freddie Mac wrote in 2022 that investors "heavily target under-market-value homes that need more repair than what most first-time homebuyers are willing to...
Analysts Condemn, Realtors Back Bill that Harms Buyers
Pretty much every serious housing analyst and economist is opposing the ROAD to Housing [Inflation] Bill. Yet the National Association of Realtors is cheering for a bill that would take housing away from people who can't afford to buy houses. 🤡...
Road to Housing Act Will Worsen Affordability, Warns John Burns
Housing expert John Burns on the ROAD to Housing Act: "The housing bill that will make affordability worse, not better."
From $1 Shoe Salesman to Nation's 2nd Largest Apartment Owner
The story of Morgan Properties is one of those "only in America" stories -- started by a shoe salesman in 1985 putting down $1 to buy 3 suburban Philly apartment properties, and growing it into the nation's 2nd largest apartment...
Give Homebuyers First Refusal, Keep Investor Exit Valve
Potential compromise on single-family investor ban: Give individual homebuyers a "first right of refusal" on home listings for 30 days before investors (of any size) can make offer. (And fully exempt BTR.) The "first dibs" rule would advantage individuals, but also protect...
Senate Bill Threatens Build‑to‑Rent, Slashing New Housing Supply
Digging into the Senate's ROAD to Housing bill more, the new amendments are NIMBY-friendly supply killers. It effectively kills build-to-rent construction, which delivered 250k new homes over past 5 years. And don't assume all those homes would have been built anyway...
Anti‑Investor Rhetoric Threatens Renters Amid Shrinking Supply
Anti-investor vibes are so strong that they don't realize it's actually anti-renter. Investors will be fine. They pivot. But where do renters go if supply shrinks and they can't afford to buy?
Net Flow, Not Just Buying, Reveals Housing Fire Sales
This is why reporters and policymakers should look at net flows (buying - selling), not just buying.
MA Apartment Starts and Acquisitions Set to Plunge in 2026
Easy prediction: New apartment construction starts and acquisitions will plunge across Massachusetts in 2026 until after the potential November ballot measure on rent control is decided. https://t.co/PNqV8oMkvq
Luxury Builds Reduce Affordable Housing, Not Trickle‑down
As Max and others often point out: The more apartments you build for the wealthy, the fewer wealthy people living in moderate- and lower-priced apartments... thereby creating more affordable supply. It's not "trickle down economics." (Different thing.) It's just common sense.
Homeownership Up, America Not Turning Renter Nation
Is America becoming a renter nation? The answer is an unequivocable "no" according to U.S. Census data. Today's homeownership rate of 65.7% is: +0.6 ppts since pre-COVID +1.9 ppts since 10 years ago +0.4 ppts above the long-term average +0.9 ppts above the long-term median +1.0 ppt...