Our research team just completed another market summary, this time for the New Port Richey/West Pasco submarket. The research was conducted by phone and information was provided via New Port Richey/West Pasco communities on-site staff between the dates of 4/28/08 - 4/29/08. A few results have been highlighted and are below:
*Average occupancy for the area is 91%
*Average rent rates are between $640-$801
*The most popular concession by far is reducing rent rate upon move-in
*100% of the communities contacted in this submarket are offering concessions
The interesting thing to note is that every community contacted was offering some sort of concession. While not true of every community in Pasco, we did try and contact enough communities to make sure we had a fairly substantial sample size. Prospective renter traffic is very slow in West Pasco and in a few cases was reported as very, very slow. How one quantifies the extra 'very' is a calculation we haven't figured out yet but we are guessing it is slower than slow.
In June, when we release our Tampa Bay mid-year Market Summary, we are hoping that we will have a very good picture of how the market is responding to the current foreclosure crisis, how the rest of the year is looking for the Tampa Bay area, and we also plan on addresing the question of concessions. Do concessions benefit communities both in the short-term and long -term or do they just hinder the bottom line financially? Can communities be successful leasing without offering a concession? Are there other examples in the business world that we can look at that will help us address this concessions question? Look for answers to these as well as a summary for the West Tampa area in the next weeks.
If you should have any questions or if you would like the report in full, please e-mail aftampa@apartmentfinder.com or call us at 813-864-0275.
April 30, 2008
April 29, 2008
Florida foreclosures nearly triple
We thought we would post this article from the TBO about foreclosures. Forbes.com says that the end may not be near for home foreclosures and that data shows a 112% spike in foreclosures year-over-year. We all know people who have been affected by the sub-prime mortgage and credit crises' and while this will eventually help the apartment industry in Florida with new renters, we are never big fans of people losing their homes. Hopefully this process will work itself out for the betterment of most including the multi-family industry as well as those who are running into financial problems.
Locally, the foreclosure rate in the Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater area ranked No. 21 in the top 100 metro areas. (TBO.com)
Locally, the foreclosure rate in the Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater area ranked No. 21 in the top 100 metro areas. (TBO.com)
April 23, 2008
Clearwater/Largo Market Summary and more concessions
Our research team just completed another market summary, this time for the Clearwater/Largo submarket. The research was conducted by phone and information was provided via Clearwater/Largo communities on-site staff between the dates of 4/17/08 - 4/18/08. A few results have been highlighted and are below:
*Average occupancy for the area is at 92%
*Average rent rates are between $861-$912
*The most popular concession by far is one month free with a few communities offering 2 month's free rent
*Just as in St. Pete, 47% of communities in this submarket are offering concessions
The good news is that we have seen, over the past four months, a rise in occupancy in the realm of one to three percentage points on average throughout this submarket. We are hearing stories of increased rentals to former homeowners who have been foreclosed on, renters who previously had been renting from homeowners who have been foreclosed on, and many who were putting off home buying due to the inability to snag a homeowners loan. The trend is still heavily in favor of searching for homes to rent by far, but we feel that the playing field will level out over the next few months and occupancy will continue its steady, albeit slower than we would like to see, rise.
The concessions issue continues to fascinate us however. While the average occupancy in Clearwater/Largo is at 92%, those offering concessions are sitting at 91% occupancy. One percentage point differential is not large enough to make a clear case that concessions are not necessary. We also have not explored the question of what would those communities who are offering concessions look like if they were not? However, this is the third submarket we have surveyed where those complexes offering concessions have come in with an occupancy rate below the market average. We have one more survey on the way and then we'll crunch the total numbers and do a concession post on the effectiveness of concessions in the Tampa Bay area. Stay tuned!
If you should have any questions or if you would like the report in full, please e-mail aftampa@apartmentfinder.com or call us at 813-864-0275.
*Average occupancy for the area is at 92%
*Average rent rates are between $861-$912
*The most popular concession by far is one month free with a few communities offering 2 month's free rent
*Just as in St. Pete, 47% of communities in this submarket are offering concessions
The good news is that we have seen, over the past four months, a rise in occupancy in the realm of one to three percentage points on average throughout this submarket. We are hearing stories of increased rentals to former homeowners who have been foreclosed on, renters who previously had been renting from homeowners who have been foreclosed on, and many who were putting off home buying due to the inability to snag a homeowners loan. The trend is still heavily in favor of searching for homes to rent by far, but we feel that the playing field will level out over the next few months and occupancy will continue its steady, albeit slower than we would like to see, rise.
The concessions issue continues to fascinate us however. While the average occupancy in Clearwater/Largo is at 92%, those offering concessions are sitting at 91% occupancy. One percentage point differential is not large enough to make a clear case that concessions are not necessary. We also have not explored the question of what would those communities who are offering concessions look like if they were not? However, this is the third submarket we have surveyed where those complexes offering concessions have come in with an occupancy rate below the market average. We have one more survey on the way and then we'll crunch the total numbers and do a concession post on the effectiveness of concessions in the Tampa Bay area. Stay tuned!
If you should have any questions or if you would like the report in full, please e-mail aftampa@apartmentfinder.com or call us at 813-864-0275.
April 18, 2008
News and Links
Some news and notes pertaining to the multi-housing industry around the nation and Tampa Bay...have a great weekend everybody.
Crescent Resources shifts from commercial to build rental units
Crescent Resources LLC is expected to begin construction this summer on 300 rental units at Crosstown Center in Brandon. The $39.5 million Circle at Crosstown will be built by Crescent Multifamily Construction LLC, an affiliate of Crescent Resources, the project's general contractor. The project's total buildout including land, construction and development costs will equate to about $131,600 per unit.
Circle at Crosstown will be on the corner of U.S. 301 and Falkenburg Road in Brandon, just off the Crosstown Expressway outside the eastern city limits of Tampa. (Tampa Bay Business Journal)
Ranks of Apartment Dwellers Increase Dramatically
More than one million households joined the ranks of renters in the last two years, according to a new report by the National Multi Housing Council, a Washington-based group representing the multifamily rental housing industry.
Nationwide, the number of renters is projected to increase by 4.3 million households over the next decade, says Mary Ann King, 2007 NMHC chairman, in the council’s newly released annual report. Apartment demand is forecast to increase by 430,000 units annually, the report says. (National Real Estate Investor; nreionline.com)
Crescent Resources shifts from commercial to build rental units
Crescent Resources LLC is expected to begin construction this summer on 300 rental units at Crosstown Center in Brandon. The $39.5 million Circle at Crosstown will be built by Crescent Multifamily Construction LLC, an affiliate of Crescent Resources, the project's general contractor. The project's total buildout including land, construction and development costs will equate to about $131,600 per unit.
Circle at Crosstown will be on the corner of U.S. 301 and Falkenburg Road in Brandon, just off the Crosstown Expressway outside the eastern city limits of Tampa. (Tampa Bay Business Journal)
Ranks of Apartment Dwellers Increase Dramatically
More than one million households joined the ranks of renters in the last two years, according to a new report by the National Multi Housing Council, a Washington-based group representing the multifamily rental housing industry.
Nationwide, the number of renters is projected to increase by 4.3 million households over the next decade, says Mary Ann King, 2007 NMHC chairman, in the council’s newly released annual report. Apartment demand is forecast to increase by 430,000 units annually, the report says. (National Real Estate Investor; nreionline.com)
April 15, 2008
National rental rates inconsistent across country
There is a very good read on msnbc.com (link below) about national rental rates and how they compare city-to-city. Rental prices have plummeted in Phoenix while in San Francisco, rates have risen as much as 14%! New York and Seattle also experienced similar rent spikes due to a growing job-seeking populace. The culprit in Phoenix? An oversupply of housing that renters can rent for a cost below what they could rent an apartment. Sound familiar Florida?
Apartment rental costs are all over the board (msnbc.com)
Apartment rental costs are all over the board (msnbc.com)
April 14, 2008
St.Pete/Gateway Market Summary and concessions
Our research team just completed another market summary, this time for the St. Pete/Gateway submarket. The research was conducted by phone and information was provided via Gateway communities on-site staff between the dates of 4/1/08 - 4/3/08. A few results have been highlighted and are below:
* Average occupancy in the area is reported at 92%.
* 47% of those surveyed are offering concessions.
* Concessions range from one and a half-to two month's free rent, $200 off move-in, and half off security deposit.
* The average rent rate range is $883-$932.
What we found particularly interesting for this area was the 3-5% vacancy rate gap for higher end 'B' and 'A' luxury communities compared to other communities in the area. Another interesting note was the 92% occupancy rate for those apartment communities offering concessions. This stat, along with the 82% occupancy rate for Lakeland communities offering concessions, fall s below each submarkets average occupancy rate. Could this show that offering concessions doesn't drastically improve multifamily housing occupancy in the Tampa Bay area?
Obviously surveying two submarkets isn't a large enough sample size to answer the concession question but it still leaves us wondering to the effectiveness of concessions. Our team is scheduled to do two more market summaries this month, one for West Tampa, and the other for Sarasota and we will look to gather more info on this concession trend.
* Average occupancy in the area is reported at 92%.
* 47% of those surveyed are offering concessions.
* Concessions range from one and a half-to two month's free rent, $200 off move-in, and half off security deposit.
* The average rent rate range is $883-$932.
What we found particularly interesting for this area was the 3-5% vacancy rate gap for higher end 'B' and 'A' luxury communities compared to other communities in the area. Another interesting note was the 92% occupancy rate for those apartment communities offering concessions. This stat, along with the 82% occupancy rate for Lakeland communities offering concessions, fall s below each submarkets average occupancy rate. Could this show that offering concessions doesn't drastically improve multifamily housing occupancy in the Tampa Bay area?
Obviously surveying two submarkets isn't a large enough sample size to answer the concession question but it still leaves us wondering to the effectiveness of concessions. Our team is scheduled to do two more market summaries this month, one for West Tampa, and the other for Sarasota and we will look to gather more info on this concession trend.
April 9, 2008
The Florida Rental Market is Losing to Houses
We came across a very interesting article today on this here interwebs from the Apartment Expert, Lisa Trosien. Ms. Trosien recently did a Google Trends search and the results were pretty incredible, particularly for those in the Tampa and Orlando markets.
You can click on the article link below however the basic gist is that she found that there were more Google searches for 'homes for rent' in Tampa and Orlando than 'apartments for rent'. We were curious to see if this info could be updated (there was no time reference for the trend) and the results were pretty much the same. We did a basic 'homes' and 'apartments' search and narrowed it down to March 2008. The graph below shows what we found.
It would seem that, with exceptions in the two major college towns of Tallahassee and Gainesville, that apartment searches in the state of Florida are getting beat 2-1 to homes. We were curious to see how Tampa and Orlando stacked up to the rest of the country so far in 2008 using the same key words. The results are below.
Compared to other U.S. cities this year Orlando and Tampa stand out as overwhelming cities where more searches are done for homes than for apartments. There are still a lot of searches for apartments as Orlando came in 5th and Tampa 8th overall for these keywords using Google, but the importance of the overall picture cannot be lost. It would seem then that coupled with the article we posted from Businessweek about the glut of properties on the market, that there is a direct correlation between the shadow market and apartment renting. How long this trend will continue is anybodies guess but we'll be keeping a close eye on this trend to gauge how the rental markets are doing in Florida.
tip to: Apartment Expert Lisa Trosien (apartmentexpert.com)
Google trends and apartments
You can click on the article link below however the basic gist is that she found that there were more Google searches for 'homes for rent' in Tampa and Orlando than 'apartments for rent'. We were curious to see if this info could be updated (there was no time reference for the trend) and the results were pretty much the same. We did a basic 'homes' and 'apartments' search and narrowed it down to March 2008. The graph below shows what we found.
Blue = Apartments
Red = Homes
Red = Homes
It would seem that, with exceptions in the two major college towns of Tallahassee and Gainesville, that apartment searches in the state of Florida are getting beat 2-1 to homes. We were curious to see how Tampa and Orlando stacked up to the rest of the country so far in 2008 using the same key words. The results are below.
Blue = Apartments
Red = Homes
Compared to other U.S. cities this year Orlando and Tampa stand out as overwhelming cities where more searches are done for homes than for apartments. There are still a lot of searches for apartments as Orlando came in 5th and Tampa 8th overall for these keywords using Google, but the importance of the overall picture cannot be lost. It would seem then that coupled with the article we posted from Businessweek about the glut of properties on the market, that there is a direct correlation between the shadow market and apartment renting. How long this trend will continue is anybodies guess but we'll be keeping a close eye on this trend to gauge how the rental markets are doing in Florida.
tip to: Apartment Expert Lisa Trosien (apartmentexpert.com)
Google trends and apartments
April 7, 2008
The Housing Bust Shakes Up Rentals
In most housing downturns, rental markets thrive. This time, a glut of properties has put the brakes on rent hikes in many cities.
For many Americans, as property values sink and mortgage interest payments rise, the dream of homeownership has turned into a nightmare. In the past, however, one group of people who have tended to ride out real estate downturns are landlords, who can raise rents while potential buyers sit on the sidelines waiting for conditions to settle. But not this year. Rent growth in 2007 actually went flat in some metro areas hardest hit by the housing meltdown.
Read more about rentals and how they are effected by the recent housing industry problems. (yahoo.com)
For many Americans, as property values sink and mortgage interest payments rise, the dream of homeownership has turned into a nightmare. In the past, however, one group of people who have tended to ride out real estate downturns are landlords, who can raise rents while potential buyers sit on the sidelines waiting for conditions to settle. But not this year. Rent growth in 2007 actually went flat in some metro areas hardest hit by the housing meltdown.
Read more about rentals and how they are effected by the recent housing industry problems. (yahoo.com)
April 2, 2008
Spring 2008 Executive Summary - Part IV
Today we present our final piece of our Spring Executive Summary where we take a look at the outlook for 2008 and beyond concerning Features and Amenities for Tampa Bay, Florida and the nation. Enjoy!
Agro-housing is gaining support amongst designers, architects and builders alike. Specifically, as Amara Holstein reported in Dwell magazine in October 2007, these projects essentially combine urban living with multi-story or even single-story greenhouses. The community encourages resident, as well its own staff, to cultivate fruits, spices, plants, and flowers on-site. “A rooftop green space caps off the structure, and passive and active solar energy, along with gray water irrigation and rain water harvesting, helps keep the building also somewhat sustainable in form as well as function.”
Scenic gardens, green rooftops, and other green’ projects are increasingly becoming the norm at more and more communities across the nation. There is no reason, given Florida’s warm, tropical climate, that these ‘green initiatives’ could not be experimented with and implemented locally. Top floor solar paneling as a unit incentive to lower energy costs are also being implemented in apartment dwellings. Sometimes even to the answer of a $0 electric bill! Reclaimed water, while a staple of many municipal governments for parks and gardens, is becoming more and more prevalent for communities to use for grounds watering as well as for aesthetic features such as fountains. Scenic gardens are a great way to show off the beauty of a community’s local landscaping and it also creates a hotspot for communal activity in addition to the pool area, clubhouse or gazebo.
Several communities in Seattle and New York have begun allowing residents to ‘rent’ a car or bike for use for a certain time period during the week or weekends. Instead of driving one’s own car, residents can ‘rent’ the car for an hour to run quick errands or such. This gives the resident the ability to choose a more energy-efficient way to travel and serves as an earth-friendly feature provided by the community.
These ideas build a sense of community which in turn creates a sense of civic and community pride. Ultimately, this creates cleaner units, greener and more appealing communities, happier residents, and reduces the amount of turnover. Community buildings make residents want to stay longer as they feel they are a part of something special.
Potential resident interior design options are increasingly becoming more popular. Allowing residents to choose an accent color for a main wall in an apartment has proven to be a solid selling point, particularly in growing metro areas like Denver, San Francisco, Phoenix, Charlotte and Miami. Built-in mp3 docking components are also increasingly popular as more of these personal gadgets become cost-effective items.
The point of innovation and new ideas is to promote change. Apartment communities need to embrace the changes and new ideas in design, as the competition for housing remains fierce.
Conclusion
To say for certain what lies ahead in 2008 is irresponsible and unwarranted. We can only use the indicators we have from the past several years, including a very tumultuous 2007, to best predict ways to make sure 2008 is as successful as possible for the multi-family housing industry. Several submarkets are already becoming increasingly full of activity and will continue to be so in 2008, such as Pasco County, Hillsborough and the Polk and Manatee markets. The Economic outlook will depend on jobs and wage growth while also depending on a steadying credit/mortgage market. New innovations such as greener features and amenities, more community based initiatives and consumer friendlier apartments will become increasingly popular as the apartment industry works to differentiate itself from a growing housing and condo market.
Sources: (Note: Posting our sources for our Executive Summary is important to us at Apartment Finder Tampa. We believe in transparency and want to be upfront and honest on how we came to our conclusions. If any of the below researchers/reporters believe that we misinterpreted the data, then please let us know as soon as possible so that we can correct the information.)
Powerpoint Presentation at BAAA 13th Annual Developer’s Forum, Wednesday, November 28th, 2007,
Michael Slater, President/CEO, TRIAD research and Consulting, Inc.
Powerpoint Presentation at BAAA 13th Annual Developer’s Forum, Wednesday, November 28th, 2007, Michael Brown, First Advantage SafeRent, “New Tenant Eligibility Requirements & Today’s Credit Challenges”
Tampa Bay Business Journal Online; March 27, 2008; Tampa will grow, but more infrastructure needed, developers say
Tampa Bay Business Journal Online; September 25, 2007; More apartments coming to Westshore
Tampa Bay Business Journal Online; October 18, 2007; Vacancy rising in Tampa, and so are average rents
Apartment Industry Responds to Bush Bailout Proposal Press Release; December 7, 2007; Doug Bibby, President of the National Multi Housing Council (NMHC),
New Cornerstone: Foundations for Florida’s 21st Century Economy 2003 (Revisited 2007); Florida Chamber Foundation
Units Magazine, July, 2007; Home Grown, pgs. 20-28, Todd Tibbits
Carolina REAL DATA Real Estate Information Services, Apartment Index; Tampa Bay December 2007
Agro Housing; Posted by: Amara Holstein on Oct 23, 07; http://www.dwell.com/daily/blog/10561526.html
Agro-housing is gaining support amongst designers, architects and builders alike. Specifically, as Amara Holstein reported in Dwell magazine in October 2007, these projects essentially combine urban living with multi-story or even single-story greenhouses. The community encourages resident, as well its own staff, to cultivate fruits, spices, plants, and flowers on-site. “A rooftop green space caps off the structure, and passive and active solar energy, along with gray water irrigation and rain water harvesting, helps keep the building also somewhat sustainable in form as well as function.”
Scenic gardens, green rooftops, and other green’ projects are increasingly becoming the norm at more and more communities across the nation. There is no reason, given Florida’s warm, tropical climate, that these ‘green initiatives’ could not be experimented with and implemented locally. Top floor solar paneling as a unit incentive to lower energy costs are also being implemented in apartment dwellings. Sometimes even to the answer of a $0 electric bill! Reclaimed water, while a staple of many municipal governments for parks and gardens, is becoming more and more prevalent for communities to use for grounds watering as well as for aesthetic features such as fountains. Scenic gardens are a great way to show off the beauty of a community’s local landscaping and it also creates a hotspot for communal activity in addition to the pool area, clubhouse or gazebo.
Several communities in Seattle and New York have begun allowing residents to ‘rent’ a car or bike for use for a certain time period during the week or weekends. Instead of driving one’s own car, residents can ‘rent’ the car for an hour to run quick errands or such. This gives the resident the ability to choose a more energy-efficient way to travel and serves as an earth-friendly feature provided by the community.
These ideas build a sense of community which in turn creates a sense of civic and community pride. Ultimately, this creates cleaner units, greener and more appealing communities, happier residents, and reduces the amount of turnover. Community buildings make residents want to stay longer as they feel they are a part of something special.
Potential resident interior design options are increasingly becoming more popular. Allowing residents to choose an accent color for a main wall in an apartment has proven to be a solid selling point, particularly in growing metro areas like Denver, San Francisco, Phoenix, Charlotte and Miami. Built-in mp3 docking components are also increasingly popular as more of these personal gadgets become cost-effective items.
The point of innovation and new ideas is to promote change. Apartment communities need to embrace the changes and new ideas in design, as the competition for housing remains fierce.
Conclusion
To say for certain what lies ahead in 2008 is irresponsible and unwarranted. We can only use the indicators we have from the past several years, including a very tumultuous 2007, to best predict ways to make sure 2008 is as successful as possible for the multi-family housing industry. Several submarkets are already becoming increasingly full of activity and will continue to be so in 2008, such as Pasco County, Hillsborough and the Polk and Manatee markets. The Economic outlook will depend on jobs and wage growth while also depending on a steadying credit/mortgage market. New innovations such as greener features and amenities, more community based initiatives and consumer friendlier apartments will become increasingly popular as the apartment industry works to differentiate itself from a growing housing and condo market.
Sources: (Note: Posting our sources for our Executive Summary is important to us at Apartment Finder Tampa. We believe in transparency and want to be upfront and honest on how we came to our conclusions. If any of the below researchers/reporters believe that we misinterpreted the data, then please let us know as soon as possible so that we can correct the information.)
Powerpoint Presentation at BAAA 13th Annual Developer’s Forum, Wednesday, November 28th, 2007,
Michael Slater, President/CEO, TRIAD research and Consulting, Inc.
Powerpoint Presentation at BAAA 13th Annual Developer’s Forum, Wednesday, November 28th, 2007, Michael Brown, First Advantage SafeRent, “New Tenant Eligibility Requirements & Today’s Credit Challenges”
Tampa Bay Business Journal Online; March 27, 2008; Tampa will grow, but more infrastructure needed, developers say
Tampa Bay Business Journal Online; September 25, 2007; More apartments coming to Westshore
Tampa Bay Business Journal Online; October 18, 2007; Vacancy rising in Tampa, and so are average rents
Apartment Industry Responds to Bush Bailout Proposal Press Release; December 7, 2007; Doug Bibby, President of the National Multi Housing Council (NMHC),
New Cornerstone: Foundations for Florida’s 21st Century Economy 2003 (Revisited 2007); Florida Chamber Foundation
Units Magazine, July, 2007; Home Grown, pgs. 20-28, Todd Tibbits
Carolina REAL DATA Real Estate Information Services, Apartment Index; Tampa Bay December 2007
Agro Housing; Posted by: Amara Holstein on Oct 23, 07; http://www.dwell.com/daily/blog/10561526.html
Market opportunities flow along Manatee River
Buffeted by the economy, growth and business opportunities in two riverfront cities in Manatee County are on different tacks. Some Palmetto and Bradenton downtown developers are changing plans but still proceeding with projects. Some have given up, and others are waiting out the housing market slide.
Continue reading about Palmetto and Bradenton developments. (Tampa Bay Business Journal)
Continue reading about Palmetto and Bradenton developments. (Tampa Bay Business Journal)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
