Articles

The Most Active Markets for New Multifamily Development in 2025

After the volume of multifamily permits fell nationally in 2023 and 2024, this year is on pace to be a year of stabilization for multifamily development. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, out of the top 100 largest U.S. metros by population, 47 had more multifamily permits through the first six months of 2025 than they did over the same period last year. Driven by strong underlying multifamily demand, attractive investment opportunities are leading to rebounding construction pipelines. As multifamily permitting rises, we explore the markets where new permits issued are most concentrated and where construction activity is gaining momentum.

Current Reports

Small Multifamily Investment Trends Report Q3 2025

Arbor’s Small Multifamily Investment Trends Report Q3 2025, developed in partnership with Chandan Economics, examines the factors behind the continued upward trajectory of the sector amid an ongoing capital markets recalibration. Several of its core performance metrics, including valuations, originations, and credit standards, have shown measurable improvement as a multifamily market-wide normalization takes shape. Supported by strong fundamentals, small multifamily stands tall despite economic uncertainty.

Analysis

U.S. Multifamily Market Snapshot — August 2025

The U.S. multifamily market stood on the cusp of a new cycle at the halfway point of 2025, as demand continued to be driven by favorable demographic trends and a structural need for housing.

Articles

Small Multifamily Continues Steady Price Growth

Small multifamily valuations realized positive year-over-year growth in the second quarter of 2025, demonstrating the sector’s ongoing resilience in an unsettled economic environment. Steady rent growth, improving operating expense ratios, and stable cap rates helped move price growth into positive territory.

Articles

Metro-Level SFR Rent Growth Trends in the First Half of 2025

Albany, NY, and many other affordable mid-sized metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) outpaced the national rent growth average for single-family rental (SFR) properties in the first half of 2025, according to an analysis of Zillow’s Observed Rent Index, which tracks the 100 largest markets in the U.S.

Articles

Larger Buildings and Smaller Units: How New Multifamily Completions Continue to Evolve

Driven by high construction costs, land constraints, and rental affordability, developers are increasingly prioritizing smaller units in higher-density multifamily properties. Utilizing data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s annual Survey of Construction, the research teams at Chandan Economics and Arbor Realty Trust have analyzed how the characteristics of new multifamily properties continue to evolve.

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Research Reports

Top Markets for Multifamily Investment

from Arbor & Chandan Economics
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Arbor’s Top Markets for Multifamily Investment series provides a cross-market performance comparison of the top 50 metros in the U.S. Published annually, these reports reveal the leading metros in the U.S. for large multifamily investment in categories such as population growth, labor market performance, and renter demographics.

Large Multifamily Investment Archives

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Even as macroeconomic uncertainties persist nationally, many large metropolitan markets have made positive gains this year.
In an otherwise uneven economic environment, multifamily real estate and other investment classes adept at absorbing inflationary pressures have outperformed the rest.
With elevated interest rates and volatility becoming the new normal, the risk vs. opportunity assessments of individual markets have shifted as domestic migration and insurance market corrections have changed the calculus.
With interest rate pressure easing, quality multifamily investment opportunities have emerged from coast to coast, making identifying the optimal location essential.
The U.S. economy continued its path back to health through the third quarter of 2021. As of the second-quarter estimate of annualized real gross domestic product (GDP), the economy is now 0.9% larger than it was before the onset of the pandemic.
The U.S. economy was gliding into 2020 along a path of consistent yet unspectacular growth. After more than a decade of expansion, multifamily asset pricing remained exceptionally tight, with investors searching for yield in secondary and tertiary markets.