Real Estate Question of the Week – Elliott Pollack responds to “why are so many apartments being built?”

Elliott responds:  There’s not much more I can say that I haven’t said before.  Apartments are the investment of choice for institutional investors right now.  Demand is strong.  Vacancy rates are low and declining. Financing is readily available.  Given the lags between planning ultimate occupancy, the market will likely get tighter before what is planned comes on stream. Home ownership rates continue to decline.  And the economy is likely, in the absence of a Fiscal Cliff, to continue to grow albeit slowly.  In addition, other institutional type real estate sectors such as office and retail have a far less sanguine near term outlook.  All of the activity BREW is reporting is just a manifestation of the above.  Elliott