Multifamily activity has slowed down this year, compared to 2015 and 2016, which were each record-breaking years. Transaction volume has still been strong, but investors have noticed the change. Some players, believe that foreign investment has driven the slow down. Noor Menai, President & CEO of CTBC Bank USA, says that the stalled EB-5 program has contributed to the reduction in activity. If you exclude foreign investors, Menai says that activity has been as strong as the previous two years.

“There was a little bit of leveling off this year because the EB-5 program got into abience, and there was a push from the regional offices to step back and inject more governance and compliance culture into the process and then come back into the market,” Menai tells GlobeSt.com. “If you couple that with the fact that a lot of the big projects got underway, there was also a surge for the next project. If you hold that aside, from our perspective at this bank, we did not see a slow down in activity. If we had wanted to do more, we could have done more.”

Menai clarifies that the EB-5 investor is a specific subset of investors. The firm's activity is also based on their reputation in the market. “That is a subset of who the customers are and our reputation in the market,” says Menai. “People come to us because they realize that we are relationship bankers and we have a great knowledge of the market. We work with our clients through the process.”

However, there has been some softness in the market, however, it has been concentrated in luxury markets. “On a macro level, there has been no softness that we have seen,” says Menai. “At the very top, at the luxury level, on both coasts, there have been some softness. We are not seeing any softness other than in the high-end luxury market. So, I would say that the market will maintain if not do better than in the last year.”

CTBC USA conducted a recent survey of high net worth investors, and it showed that residential and multifamily is overwhelmingly the preferred asset class.

Instant Insights /

EB-5 Caused Some Leveling Off This Year

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