Christopher Lee, a real estate consultant with CEL & Associates, is a featured panelist at the 2009 NAA Education Conference & Exposition this week.  The National Apartment Association (NAA) website features his white paper on the future of apartment living which I thought particularly pertinent for these times.

Lee states the future of apartment living is bright because of several factors - the housing crisis, Gen Y’s appeal, Hispanics and the aging population.

The following is an excerpt from Lee’s paper:

“The Housing Crisis Solution

It is more than a remote possibility that the U.S. homeownership rate (currently 67.5 percent) could decline 6 percent to 8 percent over the next decade, bringing U.S. homeownership rates more in line with those in several European countries. Remember, only since the Baby Boomer generation of buyers has U.S. homeownership risen above 60 percent. For each single percentage point of decline in the homeownership rate, the potential demand for approximately 1 million rental-housing units is created. Recent statistics on renters moving out to buy homes during Q3 2008 were down as much as 15 percentage points from their highs in 2004. Today, only 12 percent to 14 percent of renters are leaving to buy homes-a number that is expected to decline further in the short-term. Renting is now becoming an economic and lifestyle choice.”

This certainly is good news for commercial real estate investors in the multi-family sector.  To read more glad tidings on this subject, please to go to:

http://www.naahq.org/memberonly/resources/Pages/TheFutureofApartmentLiving.aspx

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