NAHB Says Multi-Family Improves in Third Quarter

Washington, DC, Dec. 10, 2010 -- The National Association of Home Builders said that the multi-family housing sector showed improvement in the third quarter, based on data from its survey of builders and property managers.

The association said that two indices showed improvement.

The NAHB Multifamily Production Index increased to a value of 35.6, up from the 26.6 level reported for the second quarter. This is the highest the MPI has been since 2007.

The NAHB Multifamily Vacancy Index, meanwhile, registered a decline (fewer vacant apartments) for the fifth quarter in a row—down to 39.2. The MVI has been declining steadily since reaching a peak of 70.2 in the second quarter of 2009.

"Since 1985, NAHB has been producing the Housing Market Index, which gives an indication of what the coming months will bring in the single-family market," said David Crowe, NAHB's chief economist.

"We are confident that the MPI and MVI will provide equally useful information for the multifamily sector. It is important to remember that, although both the MPI and the Census Bureau's measures of multifamily production are increasing, they are rising from historically very low levels. with multifamily starts remaining well below a rate that would be sustainable under more normal market conditions. Further improvement in multifamily production depends upon resolving the formidable problems that currently exist in accessing credit to develop and build economically viable multifamily projects."