The Lease-Up

With GDP growth in 2024 averaging 2.5 percent, the American economy is in good shape at the beginning of this year. The labor market remains strong, wage growth is elevated and nobody is forecasting a recession. However, stringent immigration policies from the current White House administration could pose risks.Paula Munger, vice president of research at the National Apartment Association, talks to Multi-Housing News Senior Editor Laura Calugar in the latestNAA Insights podcast.

Housing economist George Ratiu joined the National Apartment Association as vice president of research a few months ago, after 15 years working for trade associations, Fortune 500 companies and the federal government. In his first podcast with MHN’s Laura Valean, he dives into the association’s latest research, but also touches on how AI is changing multifamily operations, and the metrics he monitors to tell where the industry is headed.

"Nothing is beneath you," said Jacqueline Kluger in this month’s Mission Success: Women in Multifamily podcast episode.Originally trained in hospitality management, Kluger began her career with Marriott before realizing she wanted to be on the ownership side of real estate. Since joining Philadelphia-based Post Brothers in 2018, she has helped close more than $1.4 billion in financing and $500 million in sales. Now serving as senior vice president of portfolio management, she oversees investor relations, financial planning, and reporting for the company’s 3,600-unit portfolio.In this conversation with Multi-Housing News Senior Editor Laura Valean, Kluger reflects on the pivotal moments, mindset shifts and leadership lessons that have shaped her journey from hospitality to high-stakes real estate finance, and how embracing every opportunity, big or small, has defined her success.

In proptech, it’s estimated that only about 10 percent of company founders are women. Narrow that focus to multifamily proptech, and the percentage likely drops below one. Why?"From my perspective, it’s not a capability thing, it’s more about capital allocations and who has access,” said Jessica Beck, co-founder & CEO of Alfred, in a conversation with Multi-Housing News Senior Editor Laura Valean for this month’s Mission Success: Women in Multifamily podcast. Tune in for an insightful discussion on what it takes to succeed as a woman in proptech, and how true inclusion starts with equal opportunity!

Multifamily fundamentals continue to be strong, with record demand and annual absorption at high levels, Newmark’s second-quarter multifamily capital markets report found. Investors continue to favor the Sun Belt, but some Rust Belt markets like Milwaukee and Columbus have also been showing strong absorption.   "Because of affordability and stable employment basis and perhaps lower supply growth in these markets, we have seen more investors move into those Rust Belt markets," Karaffa told Multi-Housing News Senior Editor Laura Valean in this month’s Mission Success: Women in Multifamily podcast episode.Press Play to listen to the entire conversation!

One in eight Americans go to bed hungry each day, while 92 billion pounds of food is wasted annually. Hunger is a blind disease, and food insecurity is rampant across the country. But the multifamily industry can play a key role in combating this phenomenon.  When people move, they tend to throw away a lot of food. This is when your onsite staff can provide them with a food collection bag and encourage them to donate the items they don’t plan to take with them. A Move for Hunger partner from a transportation company will come to pick it up and deliver it to a local food bank. Doing good is that easy!For Bridget Foley, altruism is part of her DNA. Today, she’s Director of Multifamily Memberships for nonprofit Move For Hunger, which mobilizes transportation networks and the multifamily industry to deliver surplus food to communities in need. "Doing good in my life has always been my driving force," she told Multi-Housing News Senior Editor Laura Valean in this month’s Mission Success: Women in Multifamily podcast.  

With tight supply and inelastic demand, manufactured housing is one of the most resilient and strategic sectors in the real state landscape, according to Kristin Millington, a Managing Director in the Manufactured Housing and Self Storage groups of Crow Holdings Capital. "I think it’s one of the most unique supply and demand stories that we see in real estate," Millington said in the July episode of the Mission Success: Women in Multifamily podcast series. "In all of the product types that I’ve touched, this is the only one where you don’t worry about the threat of new supply." Press play for the entire conversation!

"You need culture to create a thriving company,” is the phrase that shaped Amy Steadman’s career. While studying at UCLA, she heard one of her professors say this and it stuck with her ever since. Today, she's MidPen Housing's Chief People Officer, even though she doesn't have a multifamily background. But it's precisely that outside perspective that's helping her come up with creative solutions that contribute to MidPen’s mission. To her, HR is a strategic business partner that focuses on creating meaningful connections among the company’s nearly 700 employees spread over 12 counties in California. How does she do it? What are the principles that guide her work? Tune in to find out from this podcast hosted by MHN Senior Editor Laura Calugar!

1 in 5 Americans plan to quit their job this year, with 1 in 2 even considering switching industries, accord to a recent study from SideHustles.com. If multifamily is on their radar, they will definitely need some guidance through all of the different career paths that the industry has to offer.To cater to the needs of those entering or currently in the residential property management industry, the National Apartment Association recently launched a career mapping tool that anyone can access, free of charge. MHN Senior Editor Laura Calugar invited Tiana Heath, senior manager of Industry Relations within NAA, to talk about all the features this tool encompasses and how it can help professionalize the apartment industry during a turbulent time in the job market.

Back in the '90s, Jessica Melendez was studying finance at the University of Miami. At one point, she decided to take an art class, which immediately sparked an interest in real estate.“What really motivated me is not seeing many women in the development world at that time,” Melendez said in the May episode of the Mission Success: Women in Multifamily podcast series.  Today, she is the senior vice president of development at Related Group, a company with a 40-year track record. It was founded by Jorge Perez, often dubbed “the condo king of South Florida.”Tune in for a conversation about leveraging relationships and pushing deals forward in one of the hottest multifamily markets in the country.

Carly Stevenson started her 20-year real estate career as a leasing consultant and climbed the ranks organically to her current role: executive vice president of property management with Avanath Capital Management. While she admits that affordable and workforce housing property management is a tough business—particularly in the current economic environment—her conviction for her mission is unwavering."There’s something about equating the homes to souls that just does it for me, where it helps me center and understand how sacred it is to do what we do on a daily basis," she told MHN's Laura Calugar in this month’s Mission Success: Women in Multifamily podcast episode. Press play to hear the entire episode!

March is National Women's History Month, a period reserved for the celebration of women’s achievements. And while it’s true that we at Multi-Housing News do that every month on the Mission Success: Women in Multifamily podcast, it still feels special to be able to share the voice of strong women who have left their mark in the multifamily industry.My guest is an experienced architecture and urban design specialist and a life-long resident of Los Angeles, an area that was recently devastated by the most destructive wildfires in California's history. Alexandria Hoevel is multifamily studio leader & vice president of Corgan's Los Angeles office, and she agreed to share her thoughts about what her hometown has been through.

In today’s complex environment that makes it hard to secure favorable financing terms, The Clear Blue Co.—a developer and owner-operator of workforce and affordable multifamily properties based in Nashville, Tenn.—has found a way to make its projects pencil out. The company does acquisitions and rehabilitations by leaning in on its relationship with long-term partners.“We’ve been creative and changed our acquisition strategy a little bit as a result of acquisition-rehab and preservation really becoming more complicated,” said Ashley Stockton-Massie, the firm’s recently appointed director of affordable acquisitions and development, in the February episode of the Mission Success: Women in Multifamily podcast series.Press PLAY to hear the entire conversation!

Launched in 1990, BREEAM is the world’s first green building rating system. The science-driven methodology made it onto U.S. territory in 2016 and four years later, the residential standard was launched. Nearly 100 multifamily assets were certified over the past two years alone, and the person who has been instrumental in propelling sustainable advancements and promoting BREEAM standards across the country is Breana Wheeler. As the U.S. operations director of Building Research Establishment U.S., Wheeler organizes and oversees the strategic direction of the business, including the development and maintenance of the BREEAM USA technical standards. This month, the Mission Success: Women in Multifamily podcast series turns four years old. Since 2021, you’ve been hearing amazing success stories each month, with tens of female leaders sharing details about how they left their mark in the multifamily industry. Tune in again for yet another vivid discussion!

After a year of economic volatility, your motivation level could be so low that it’s hard to keep your team’s spirits up. Here’s what you can do, according to leadership coach Maria Pietroforte. In this episode of our monthly Mission Success: Women in Multifamily podcast series, Senior Associate Editor Laura Calugar and her guest talk about how to push teams forward, considering we’re more than a year into the pandemic and many real estate leaders are tired. Motivating teams has become a challenge, even for some of the most optimistic of them. Coach Pietroforte explained that taking communication to a new level, being more empathetic and giving genuine employee recognition are just a few ways multifamily leaders can keep their team’s spirits up. 

In the latest episode of our Multifamily’s Top Marketers podcast, The Relationship Difference’s Rommel Anacan dives into how people are the key to success in attracting—and retaining—residents at your property.

She got into real estate by accident, but worked her way up to the executive suite. Lela Cirjakovic is now on Waterton’s leadership and investment committees, heading the company’s property management division. As an executive vice president of operations, she oversees a multifamily portfolio of roughly 50 multifamily assets throughout the U.S. In the latest episode of our Mission Success: Women in Multifamily podcast series, Cirjakovic talked about the importance of being authentic and transparent going forward, and how professional trade organizations can support multifamily operators’ needs. 

In the latest episode of our Multifamily’s Top Marketers podcast, Fogelman Properties’ Jeremy Lawson discusses how keeping your finger on your portfolio’s online pulse can make a tangible impact on your bottom line.

COO Melanie Gersper shares Asia Capital Real Estate’s strategy to remain fair, firm and consistent in difficult circumstances. In the second episode of our "Mission Success: Women in Multifamily" podcast series, she talks about how to work with residents and not against them as a property manager. Toward the end of the conversation with Senior Associate Editor Laura Calugar, she also reveals the best ways to stay ahead of the management game in 2021.

Student housing has been one of the most resilient real estate sectors coming out of the pandemic, but the way it operates has changed significantly. Competition is only becoming higher in the sector and some markets have been outshining others in terms of performance.In this special episode of our podcast series, Senior Associate Editor Olivia Bunescu talked with Tyson Huebner, director of institutional research at Yardi Matrix, about the key fundamentals shaping the market today. He broke down how preleasing has accelerated and why beds are filled earlier than ever. Huebner also pointed out how new supply and evolving demand patterns are reshaping competition in key university markets.From understanding university growth plans to tracking development activity, supply volatility and construction costs, Huebner outlined the data points that really matter when evaluating markets and underwriting new deals. Coming from the same standpoint, he offered a grounded outlook on what’s coming next for the sector and why, despite the broader economic headwinds, student housing is still positioned to outperform conventional multifamily.Here’s what we discussed about:Post-2020 shifts and faster pre-leasing (00:53)Why student housing outperforms multifamily (03:11)Occupancy expectations and near-term outlook (04:18)Shrinking pipeline and development barriers (05:14)Insights on research intensity, enrollment data and supply (06:40)Inside the Yardi 200 benchmark (09:12)Emerging markets and primary state schools (10:32)Why international enrollment, tuition and school closures matter (11:43)On-campus housing, P3s and competition (13:23)How will student housing perform further? (15:01)