NMHC: Apartment Sector Looking Up

Market conditions in the apartment sector improved in the fourth quarter, as all four indices used by the National Multi Housing Council's quarterly survey stood above an important threshold for the first time in the survey's nearly five-year history.The Survey of Apartment Market Conditions found that the indices -- the Market Tightness Index, the Sales Volume Index, the Equity Financing Index, and the Debt Financing Index -- all stood above 50, which means that more respondents saw improving conditions than saw worsening conditions. "The January survey results provide further evidence that the worst may be over for the apartment industry," said Mark Obrinsky, the NMHC's chief economist and vice president of research. "There have been several signs of improvement in several months. The question now is whether these improvements will be sustained." The trade group can be found online at http://www.nmhc.org.