Lastweek’s RealShare Apartments conferencein Los Angeles was the place to be for multifamilyinvestors, lenders and brokers. With almost 2,000 attendees,this was one of the best turnouts ever. Enthusiasm continuesto be high for multifamily properties, despite signs of a returningsingle-family housing market. For example, while rent hikescould drive some of the best renters into home ownership, financingfor homes is still a challenge as credit requirements are high sothis will help sustain apartment demand.

The environmental and engineering due diligence industry has aunique “boots on the ground” perspective on the trends in themultifamily and commercial real estate markets. Our services,such as a Property ConditionReport and Phase IEnvironmental Site Assessment, are typically called into playprior to acquisition or financing, so we can serve as a metric forwhat is going on in the market. A few trends we’ve seenlately include: large portfolios in the2^nd half of 2012; foreign and institutionalinvestor activity in major markets like NYC and LA; REITs leadingthe way into secondary markets with others following; very activeHUD lenders across the country; and of course busy FannieMae and Freddie Mac lenders as well.

Partner’s president Joe Derhake, PE noted some of these and othertrends in an interview with GlobeStreet TV during RealShare, andthey were also echoed by other panelists throughout the day.