It's Still Not Clear If Multifamily Has Hit Bottom

The brilliant parodist Tom Lehrer decades ago may have been the first to mention “sliding down the razor blade of life.” Many have jokingly used the phrase over the years, but it may be a shave a little too close for comfort in the multifamily sector, according to new stats from MSCI.

Apartment deal and valuation growth had taken off during the pandemic as an influx of capital from Federal Reserve easy money strategies to restart the economy helped push up demand, which dragged transactions and rent growth along. However, the top of the rise was August in 2022, and there has been a continuous stretch of falling deal volume until August 2023. That made a year-over-year downward pace of 60%.