Suburban Multifamily Outperformance Was More Subtle Than Realized

The flight to the suburbs narrative that stemmed from high migration patterns across a handful of markets last year may not tell the whole story when it comes to suburban multifamily performance, according to a new report from RCLCO.

The report—and accompanying interactive mapping tool—defines a suburb according to a place-type framework that organizes neighborhoods based on density and prevailing housing types at the census tract level, rather than just jurisdictional boundaries. For example, it notes that significant parts of places like Plano, Texas, Reston, Virginia, and Bellevue, Washington are all very urban despite being in “suburban” counties—while some neighborhoods inside big city boundaries are really suburban in character.