Coming Attractions

Apartment Finance Today
Jerry Ascierto // November-December 2009

Transit-oriented development and workforce and student housing are poised to capture a tidal wave of Echo Boomers.

The conventional wisdom in the multifamily industry is that rents and occupancies are declining, and that nothing is getting built these days. And that’s true, as owners struggle through lean times and financiers continue to hunker down and wait out the recession.

But three unconventional sectors—student housing, transitoriented development (TOD), and workforce housing—are poised to become viable alternatives to standard market-rate developments.

While these sectors have also been affected by the recession, demographic trends suggest that all three will play an increasingly larger role in the industry over the next decade. And all three sectors hinge on the choices of coming generations.

Student housing has shown a resiliency throughout the recession due to higher enrollment trends. And a younger workforce is increasingly migrating toward cities, where TODs are pointing the way to a new urban future, providing a natural fit for the growing workforce housing sector. Despite their promise, however, none of these sectors are without their challenges—from both a logistical and financial standpoint.

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