DALLAS—"It's not clear that renting is the new normal, but itcould be," Doug Bibby, president of theNational Multifamily Housing Council, told awebinar audience earlier this week. Further, Bibby said, "householdformation currently favors our sector."

Bibby was the lead-off presenter in the seventh annual webinarpresented by Humphreys & Partners Architects.The one-hour presentation covered apartment market demographics,the development pipeline, trends in occupancy and rent growth, andconstruction costs.

Quipping that he wasn't pointing it out to gloat, Bibby notedthat homeownership has reached its lowest level since 1967, 63.7%as of the third quarter 2015. And while a strengthening economy hasbenefited household formation across the board, it most certainlyhas benefited the multifamily sector. Downturn or no, the pool ofrenters has increased by some eight million since 2004, with ahealthy percentage of Baby Boomers among them.