At a recent Connect Phoenix Multifamily BTR/SFR event at the Westin Kierland Resort & Spa in Scottsdale, industry leaders discussed how things are today and how they thought Phoenix would do over the next few years.

On the construction side, Tower Capital’s George Maravilla says lenders don’t like uncertainty. “Last week, lenders’ LTC (loan to cost) was 70%, and now it’s 65%, and you’ve got to scramble for more equity.” He said it means less construction will happen.

JLL’s Derek Smigiel said volatility is creating a lull in the construction pipeline. “There is no construction equity so there are no starts.”

Regarding apartment buyers, Maravilla added, “The only developers selling today are doing so because they have to. There are plenty of buyers, just no sellers.

ABI’s Tyler Bruggman was more optimistic: “We have a very positive outlook with inflation down. We hope interest rates will come down. We’ve hit the bottom of the slow period and are coming up.”