Employment Growth, Desirable Climate Helps Phoenix
By Roland Murphy for Arizona Builder’s Exchange
While growth is expected to slow a bit in 2017, a report issued last month by Freddie Mac Multifamily projects the rapid resurgence in the market won’t show signs of stopping in the near future.
The slow, steady economic growth of 2016 supported a heavy degree of demand for multifamily rental nationwide. “Despite high levels of construction permits and starts, vacancy rates remained flat, while strong demand pushed up rents and gross-income growth above the historical norm,” the report said.
The better overall economy led to more household formations in 2016. Over the first three quarters of 2016, 1.2M new households were formed, 630,000 of which rented, keeping demand high. To meet that demand, construction in multifamily is at the highest levels since the late-80s.
