Oregon and Seattle Washington eviction moratoriums come to an end, and Multifamily builder confidence finishes out 2021 on a high note.
Monday, February 28, 2022
Tuesday, February 22, 2022
Good News for Washington Landlords Ahead of Legislative Session's End
Legislative bills being watched by housing providers included several that are no longer under consideration. They include the following.
BILLS SUPPORTED THAT PASSED
HB 1732 Delayed the State of Washington's Long-Term Care Act to January 1, 2023 - Passed and signed by the Governor.
BILLS OPPOSED BY HOUSING PROVIDERS THAT DIED IN COMMITTEE:
HB 2017 Would have banned screening for criminal records and penalized landlords $7,500 for each person denied a prospective tenancy for a criminal conviction.
HB 2023 Would have allowed tenants to sue based on the Consumer Protection Act for violations of the residential landlord-tenant act, mobile-home landlord-tenant act, and other laws and agreements. Allowed triple damages and attorneys for prevailing tenants.
SB 5139 Would have established rent control by prohibiting a housing provider from increasing rent or other charges for six months after the end of the Governor's emergency eviction ban and limited increases to 3% over CPI for the following six months.
BILLS SUPPORTED BY HOUSING PROVIDERS THAT DIED IN COMMITTEE
HB 2105 Would have allowed notices to be served electronically rather than posted if the renter voluntarily agreed. The bill died in committee.
HB 1035 Would have authorized cities and counties to create an affordable housing incentive program. This bill died in committee.
OPPOSED BILLS THAT DIED ON THE FLOOR:
SB 5576 Would have removed the judicial discretion in eviction proceedings for tenants receiving three or more pay or vacate notices within the previous 12 months.
HB 1100 Would have imposed a right of first refusal on manufactured housing communities.
HB 1904 Would have effectively enacted rent control by mandating 180-day notices for rent increases above 7.5% and would have allowed the tenant to terminate the lease with 20 days written notice for month-to-month tenancy or 45 days' notice for a tenancy of a specified period.
HB 1300 Would have required additional paperwork regarding collection and refund or retention of security deposits.
OPPOSED BILLS STILL ACTIVE IN COMMITTEE
HB 2064 Allows landlords to offer tenants the option of paying an entirely or partially non-refundable fee instead of a security deposit.
SB 5825 Establishes a rental and vacant property registration program workgroup to evaluate the feasibility of statewide rental and vacant property registration to add costs and taxes to the identified properties.
National Home Builders Forecast Red-Hot 2022 for Multifamily
The multifamily sector took center stage at the International Builders' Show earlier this month. Despite ongoing challenges, the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) anticipates that multifamily starts, fueled by low vacancies and rents, will rise 6.3 percent from 2021 to nearly a half-million units. Overall housing production is expected to increase 2.5% to a 1.63 million annual pace. Single family home sales are projected to increase more than 9% from last year.
Home and rental prices are expected to be constrained by labor shortages and building material production bottlenecks. Read more.
FCC Adopts Rule Banning Revenue-Sharing of Apartment and Office Broadband Service
The FCC has adopted a new rule regarding apartment broadband service. The order bans certain revenue-sharing agreements and requires providers to clearly disclose marketing practices for broadband.
The FCC says the rules will unlock broadband competition for those living and working in apartments, public housing, office buildings, and other multi-tenant buildings. The regulation prohibits broadband providers from entering into revenue-sharing agreements with a building owner that keep competitive providers out of buildings.
The National Multifamily Housing Council stated that it was disappointed with the ruling, and issued a statement reading, in part:
"The FCC claims its actions will increase competition, lower costs, and promote broadband in apartment buildings. Yet, by nullifying existing, legal agreements between broadband providers and property owners, the Order may very well discourage investment and harm deployment and maintenance of broadband networks, particularly in already underserved properties most in need of broadband deployment and modernization. Unfortunately, the Order does nothing to help Americans living in these communities that lack adequate broadband service, including lower-income, affordable and smaller rental properties.
"The multifamily industry cares deeply about equitable access and providing the highest quality of broadband to our residents. Industry data shows competition and superior broadband service already exists, with 80 percent of apartments surveyed having two or more providers on site.
"The reality is that apartment residents, by-and-large, are well served and often receive better, faster, cheaper, and more reliable broadband than what is typically available in the broader market. This is the model that the FCC should look to replicate as we aim to address the digital divide—not upend it.
"Where the broadband market is failing and needs intervention in the multifamily environment is in lower-income, affordable and smaller properties. Building owners often struggle to find even one provider to serve a property and provide up-to-date broadband service in these locations."
Monday, February 21, 2022
HFO Multifamily Marketwatch - February 21, 2022
This week: Public pension funds allocated to real estate reach a new high, and a new poll shows large multifamily investors are reluctant to build housing in states or markets with rent control.
Wednesday, February 16, 2022
Report: Multifamily Firms Reconsidering Investing in Rent Control Markets
Monday, February 14, 2022
Forecast: 2022 Rent Growth by Metro Area for Seattle, Portland
The 2021 U.S. average rent growth rate of 13.5% is expected to moderate in 2022 as pent-up demand from sheltering-in-place in 2021 dissipates. Meanwhile, rent gains are expected to remain above trend, with asking rents increasing nationally by around 4.5% for the year.
Yardi Matrix is forecasting Portland metro will end 2022 with an increase of 5.2% in average rents, with Seattle at 5.1%.
New unit absorption was high last year as well, and with 10 million jobs still unfilled, some households will expand as workers gain on wages and migration fuels hotspots in the South and West.
Seattle will add 10,500 units in 2022, approximately 3.9% of current inventory. However, that number has been offset since 2018, with thousands of single-family rentals being pulled from the market due to increasing regulations.
Investments in multifamily assets rose to a record high in 2021, with multifamily scoring more than 41% of all funds invested in commercial real estate, including office, industrial, and retail sectors.
Seattle Extends Eviction Moratorium through February
Oregon has Dispersed Most of its Emergency Rental Assistance
OnTownMedia reports that the State of Oregon housing agency says slightly more than 39,000 households have benefited from $278.3 million in federal emergency rental assistance, nearly all of Oregon's $289 million allotment.
The Oregon Housing and Community Services Department is not looking at 4,782 applications submitted before a December 1st pause and then will look at roughly 7,000 submitted after the portal reopened on January 26. The state will likely run out of money by early March.
HFO Multifamily Marketwatch - February 14, 2022
This week: U.S. Housing costs surge with no end in sight, the Oregon Secretary of State's audit division plans to review how the state has handled rental assistance funds, and the Washington State legislature is considering requiring landlords to provide six months' notice of any rent increases above 7.5%.
Portland Mayor Wheeler Proposes Homeless Camps to Get People Off Streets
The Mayor of Portland proposed three 1,000-capacity homeless camps as a way to get people off the street. To overcome the objections of many who live outdoors that they feel unsafe in large groups, he has proposed protecting the campgrounds utilizing the national guard. Read more.
Late last week Oregon majors began asking the State for financial support to assist with the homeless situation. Read more.
Thursday, February 10, 2022
Sold! 23 Units in Salem, Oregon
HFO is pleased to announce the sale of Arboretum Apartments, 23-units in Salem, Oregon. Congratulations to Greg Frick, Todd Tully, and the rest of the HFO team.
Wednesday, February 9, 2022
Seven Things You Might Not Know Your Landlord Insurance Policy Covers
Are you getting the most of your landlord insurance coverage? Here are seven things your policy most likely cover. Read more.
Oregon Auditor Plans to Review Rental Assistance Funds Payments
The Oregon Secretary of State's audit division says it will audit the state's handling to rental assistance funds payments. Read more in the Rental Housing Journal.
Monday, February 7, 2022
Washington Renters Could Get Six Months Notice of Rent Increases of More Than 7.5%
The Washington State Legislature is considering HB 1904, which would require landlords to give at least six months' notice of rent increases of more than 7.5%, up from the current two months.
- Seattle already requires six months' notice for any rent increase and this summer will require landlords to pay relocation assistance for rents increasing 10% or more.
- Auburn has a similar law for increases of more than 5%.
- King county requires four months' notice for increases of more than 3%.
Read HB 1904. This bill is currently in committee. as been referred to the Housing, Human Services & Veterans committee.
HFO Multifamily Marketwatch - February 7, 2022
We have year-over-year rent growth updates that reflect an easing off in the current surge in rents, and we take a look at what will drive multifamily construction this year.
Wednesday, February 2, 2022
Apartment List: January Year-Over-Year rents up nearly 23% in Seattle, 9.4% in Portland
Apartment List reports that rents are up nationwide by a record-setting 18% YoY, but growth has slowed.
Over the past 12 months, rent prices spiked by an unprecedented 17.8 percent nationally. The early stages of the pandemic led to a modest decline in rents from January 2020 through January 2021 (-1.4%), but the staggering growth of 2021 more than made up for the lost ground. In fact, the national median rent ($1,312) is now $120 greater than where we project it would have been if rent growth since the start of the pandemic had been in line with the average growth rates we saw in 2018 and 2019. Rent growth over the past year has far outpaced that of any prior year in our estimates, which go back to 2017. For comparison, year-over-year rent growth in January averaged just 2.3 percent in the three years preceding the pandemic.
While Portland rents are up 9.4%, rents throughout Oregon rose an average of 12.8%. In Seattle, rents jumped about 23% while Washington State rents increased an average of 19.8%, according to the data service.
Tuesday, February 1, 2022
HFO Multifamily Marketwatch - 01-31-2022
This week: Portland metro's 2021 Multifamily sales reach an all-time record; highlights of the latest Harvard University Rental Housing Report, and a look at what’s ahead for multifamily lending.
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