Editors’ Weekly News Round Up May 6 – May 10
When industry groups band together to alert lawmakers to a concern that all the groups share, it’s gratifying to see elected officials act. That was the gist of the top story on Connect CRE for the week ending May 11, Bipartisan Congressional Caucus Targets Housing Supply, Affordability.
The newly formed Bipartisan Congressional Real Estate Caucus will address the lack of affordability and inventory in housing nationwide. Reps. Mark Alford (R-MO), J. Luis Correa (D-CA), Tracey Mann (R-KS) and Brittan Pettersen (D-CO) launched the new initiative, which is making housing supply its first priority.
Our second most-read story this past week also focused on the residential sector. Having seen year-over-year rent growth in multifamily fall from solid single- or even double-digit levels to less than 1% in 2024’s first quarter, readers were able to take heart from Apartment Rent Growth Expected to Accelerate in 2024’s Second Half, based on a new report from CBRE.
One reason is that helping to offset that 0.4% average rent growth in Q1, multifamily owners and developers enjoyed healthy absorption of new units. “Absorption has remained surprisingly resilient despite the record deliveries over the last few quarters,” said Kelli Carhart, leader of multifamily capital markets for CBRE.
Apartment rents have remained largely unchanged compared to a year ago, and something similar can be said about commercial real estate lending, at least as far as banks are concerned. Fed’s Loan Officer Survey: CRE Lending Standards Are Largely Status Quo,our third most-read story this past week, reported that the latest Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey from the Federal Reserve found more than half of survey respondents neither loosened nor tightened their standards in the first quarter of this year compared to Q4 2023.
“Significant net shares” of banks reported that demand for loans has softened, at least among domestic banks. Foreign banks lending to U.S. CRE customers told a different story, though, with many reporting a pickup in demand.
Two regional stories that also drew national interest rounded out the top for the past week. First approved during the presidency of George W. Bush, the Carillon Parc mixed-use development in Southlake, TX is just now generating some momentum.
Connect CRE readers learned from Southlake Developers Kickstart Long-Awaited Project that the first of three phases of construction is expected to begin later this year. They also learned that the project’s acreage has been scaled back by about 85% from the scale approved by the Southlake City Council in 2008.
Ranked fifth among our most-read stories last week was Rivian Awarded $827M Incentive Package to Expand Plant in Normal.The electric vehicle maker will use the funds from the State of Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity to prepare for production of its midsized SUV, R2.
Not yet ranked among our top five is a Weekender report on properties that are thriving in a sector that has faced more than its share of challenges when it comes to demand and occupancy: office. Placer.ai studied four properties that have been outperforming, with remarkable similarities among them.
Since Placer.ai’s report doesn’t identify the four properties—one in each of four geographically diverse metro areas—it can’t be assumed that newness or Class A status is among the common elements. You can read the story by clicking here.