Buyers will be out in force in 2020. That was the emphaticmessage delivered by attendees who took our annual survey at theGlobeSt. Apartments Conference in Los Angeles late last year. In2018, just 19% of the respondents to the annual Capital One surveysaid they anticipated primarily being buyers during the followingyear. In fall 2019, 74% declared their intention to focus on addingto their holdings.

There are multiple reasons for the pendulum to have swung soabruptly. The first is the economy. Job growth continues. Consumerspending remains strong. Interest rates are low. Capital isabundant. Taken together, these factors produce the kind ofstability that makes it easier for investors to feel more certainabout the future. Interest rates, for instance, are lower than theywere a year ago, but, equally significant, they are much lessvolatile. Furthermore, after years of worrying about when therecovery was going to end, investors now seem confident thatmoderate growth is the new normal. With certainty and growthaligned, it is no wonder that multifamily investors are bullish onthe market.