According to a new report out of the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC), 57% of multifamily developers have reported delays in their projects recently. Of those who reported delays in June, 83% said the cause was “permitting due to COVID-19.” Certainly not great news, but those stats are “virtually unchanged” from April and May. Two other reasons for the delays were a shortage of building materials and the higher prices of those materials. But the mood among these developers was cautiously optimistic. A majority of respondents said they believe the delayed starts will last less than six months. Plus, only 2% of respondents said that their projects were totally canceled because of th

Good news for Chicagoland real estate! Spurred on by very low mortgage rates, new homes sales jumped in the second quarter in suburban Chicago. Interestingly, the increase was partly fueled by the desire, for some people, to move away from more densely populated areas because of Covid-19. “In this environment of very low interest rates, we saw people who might have moved out of their apartment building in a few years saying, ‘Let’s make this move now,’ ” said Erik Doersching, executive vice president of Tracy Cross & Associates, a Schaumburg-based consultant to the homebuilding industry. Mortgage rates in July dropped below 3% for the first time since 1971 when the federal government began t

Some good news for renters in Illinois. The state government announced a $300 million fund to help people who have fallen behind on their rent or their mortgage because of COVID-19. The money is part of the $3.5 billion that Illinois received from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Kristin Faust, executive director of the Illinois Housing Development Authority, which is administering the program, says the money “will help make people whole who were suddenly hit with income loss or unemployment by the COVID-19 crisis.” That’s also great news for landlords. In July, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that about 28% of adults in Illinois were not sure they could

A new forecast from Freddie Mac Multifamily predicts that the Covid-19 pandemic will result in higher vacancy rates and lower rent growth through the rest of 2020. Driving factors include the bad job market and lower overall household income. “Ultimately the economy is unlikely to begin its return to full strength until an effective treatment or vaccine is available,” the federal agency wrote in the report. The forecast also finds that demand dropped during the second quarter, vacancy rates rose and rent growth slowed, which will lead to an expected decline in gross income growth of 3.3% to 4.2% for the year. It’s all about the vaccine now. Let’s cross our fingers. Read on HERE Mr. Willig en

Good news on the single-family rental front. Wall Street’s Brookfield Asset Management, Inc. recently bought a controlling stake in single-family landlord Conrex, which operates more than 10,000 rental homes across the Midwest and Southeastern U.S. Brookfield has also raised $300 million (including some of its own money) for an entity called Brookfield Single Family Rental that will acquire and renovate homes. The firm intends to leverage the Conrex platform for that effort. This news comes on the heels of a report that, despite Covid-19, rent collections on single-family homes have remained relatively stable during the pandemic, thus encouraging large investors to ink deals for single-famil

In a recent podcast from real estate investing maven John Burns, Greg West, CEO of ZOM Living talks about current short-term and long-term trends in the apartment market. It’s not all doom and gloom; it’s more like “adapt or die.” West believes that the apartment market will struggle over the next year, but development will continue. ZOM builds about 3000 apartments every year and just closed on two big development deals. Because of Covid-19, apartments will have to change, but West believes the impact of COVID-19 will be milder than many believe and more in the short term. In fact, the coronavirus has accelerated trends such as keyless apartment touring and working from home. Have a listen

Covid-19 has hammered the U.S. economy and its impact on multi-family apartment investing has been severe. In May 2020, investors paid a total $3.1 billion to buy apartment properties in the U.S. That’s about one-fifth of the amount they spent in the same period the year before. By June, things were on the upswing as it appeared the coronavirus was getting under control. “A slow recovery took place over the ensuing months, so that the latest, trailing, four-week, new listings figure only declined by 15% compared to last year,” says Andrew Rybczynski, managing consultant for CoStar Portfolio Strategies, based in the firm’s Boston office. But the big players are waiting out the storm. In terms

Sometimes, it’s easy being green; especially for an abandoned Target store in Calumet City, IL. This old store will be repurposed in phases (beginning at the end of this year) as an indoor vertical farm producing locally grown greens for the Chicago area under the banner ‘Wilder Fields.” The 135,000-square-foot building will house vertical stacks of trays growing fresh produce like kale, arugula and other leafy greens. A retail shop on site will sell the produce to the community and invite people in to learn about how indoor farming works. Full-scale growing capacity will be completed by 2023. Read on HERE Mr. Willig engages and coordinates a professional team of real estate brokers, general