The U.S. multifamily market finished 2025 with growing optimism and resilience. Investment volume accelerated to a three-year high, bolstered by greater interest rate clarity and the tightest cap rates across major real estate sectors.
The number of households renting single-family homes rose 1.7% in 2025, reaching a seven-year high, according to a new Arbor Realty Trust and Chandan Economics forecast, based on an analysis of newly released U.S. Census Bureau data. Since the pandemic, the single-family rental (SFR) sector has stabilized, reversing recent household losses and regaining momentum.
The latest report in Arbor Realty Trust’s Affordable Housing Trends series, developed in partnership with Chandan Economics, explores lingering challenges and new opportunities in this critically important multifamily real estate sector. In a new video, Dr. Sam Chandan, one of the commercial real estate industry’s leading scholars, shares his take on the new research report and what its findings could mean for the future of affordable housing finance.
With homebuying out of reach for many, more tenants are staying in the rental market longer than in previous cycles. This dynamic offers multifamily investors a strategic opportunity to focus on tenant retention, according to Dr. Sam Chandan, one of the commercial real estate industry’s leading scholars, who recently shared his expert insights on the 2026 Housing Outlook webinar with RentRedi.
Normalization was the thread that tied together multifamily real estate narratives in 2025. Asset valuations stabilized, cap rates held steady, and rent growth was balanced. Entering the new year, normalization is still driving the conversation, as shown by newly released data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta on real estate conditions and associated trends.
The single-family rental (SFR) sector, supported by healthy fundamentals, demonstrated its strength and durability again last quarter as the for-sale home market softened.
Arbor Realty Trust recently wrapped up its 18th Annual Holiday Drive, which raised nearly $22,000 for Long Island-based Family & Children’s Association (FCA). As in past years, Arbor extended the impact of the drive by matching all employee contributions dollar-for-dollar.
The multifamily rental households estimate reached an all-time high of 22.4 million in 2025, following meaningful post-pandemic shifts in affordable housing and rental demand. The commercial real estate pillar maintained its growth, as new inventory and persistent homeownership constraints supported a rising number of multifamily household formations.
from Arbor & Chandan Economics
A biannual economic analysis and accompanying commentary
from Arbor’s Chairman and CEO Ivan Kaufman and Chandan Economics Founder Sam
Chandan. This special series provides unparalleled insight into the housing market
from two of the industry’s foremost thought leaders.
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Recalibrating Amid Uncertainty By Ivan Kaufman and Sam Chandan Key Findings Despite a slowdown in new investment, the macro economy has outperformed expectations in 2023, indicating a soft landing is more likely. A yield curve normalization could place additional upward pressure on long-term interest rates and cap rates into 2024.
Recalibrating Amid Uncertainty By Ivan Kaufman and Sam Chandan Key Findings Despite a slowdown in new investment, the macro economy has outperformed expectations in 2023, indicating a soft landing is more likely. A yield curve normalization could place additional upward pressure on long-term interest rates and cap rates into 2024.