Deals Drive Shake-Up in 2014 NMHC 50 List of Nations Top Owners, Managers

 A rebounding apartment industry with near record transaction levels created notable changes in the National Multifamily Housing Councils (NMHC) newly-released 2014 NMHC 50 ” the industrys ranking of the top owners and managers.

Hunt Companies, Inc. (253,295 units owned) jumped to the top spot in the owners list while Greystar Real Estate Partners, LLC (214,696 units managed) topped the NMHC 50 management list for the fourth consecutive year. Full rankings and detailed analysis is available at www.nmhc.org/NMHC50.

While rental demand continues to rise, new apartment supply still came up short. Multifamily completions came in at 185,800 in 2012 still well below the 300,000 per-year pre-bust average, said NMHC Senior Vice President of Research and Chief Economist Mark Obrinsky. Annual absorptions of investment-grade apartments rose by almost a third in 2013, but ultimately remained constrained by new supply. Providing further indication of continued strong demand, occupancy rates were unchanged at just over 95 percent.

Top apartment executives looked to best position their companies to take advantage of the market recovery and larger portfolio deals and acquisitions marked the year. This level of trading resulted in more than the usual degree of shake-up in the apartment industry last year, said Obrinsky.

NMHC 50 highlights, by the numbers:

$104.7 billion 2013 transaction levels, just 1.4 percent less than the all-time high in 2007 and $17 billion more than 2012.

110,198 Number of units Hunt Companies added in 2013, mostly from the acquisition of last years number three NMHC 50 owner Centerline Capital Group.

16 Number of spots the biggest mover, J.P. Morgan Asset Management, jumped up on the owners list to #16. U.S. Residential Group made the largest move on the NMHC Managers list, up 15 spots to #32.

15 Companies appearing on the 2014 NMHC 50 lists that did not appear last year.

8 Companies making their NMHC 50 debut. New to the owners list include Greystar Real Estate Partners, Landmark Apartment Trust and American Campus Communities. New on the management list are Bridge Investment Group Partners, Alliance Residential Company, CFLane, CompassRock Real Estate LLC and Cottonwood Residential.

3 Firms with substantial holdings of military housing: Hunt Companies, Lincoln Property Company and Balfour Beatty Communities.

NMHC partners with Kingsley Associates, a leading real estate research and consulting firm, for the NMHC 50s research and analysis.

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