Multifamily Construction Continues to Rise

Washington, DC, May 30, 2014 -- Production of apartments and condominiums grew in the first quarter of 2014, according to the latest Multifamily Production Index from the National Association of Home Builders.

The index increased three points to 53, which is the ninth consecutive quarter with a reading of 50 or above.

The MPI measures builder and developer sentiment about current conditions in the apartment and condominium market on a scale of 0 to 100. Any number over 50 indicates that more respondents report conditions are improving than report conditions are getting worse.

In the first quarter of 2014, the MPI component tracking builder and developer perceptions of low-rent units increased one point to 48 and for-sale units jumped eight points to 54. Meanwhile, the index tracking market-rate rental properties slipped one point to 59, but has remained consistently above 50 since the fourth quarter of 2010.

“Developer confidence in market-rate and low-rent units has been pretty stable for quite some time,” said W. Dean Henry, chairman of NAHB's Multifamily Leadership Board.

“Now we’re really starting to see confidence in the condo market start to catch up—a segment that had been delayed in its recovery—along with the single-family market.”

“The MPI shows stable production of apartments and condos, which is what our forecast calls for,” said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. “In 2014, we expect multifamily starts to grow about 6% over 2013, to about 326,000 units.”