Developers will be building plenty of affordable multifamily projects during the rest of 2017, if the results from a housing survey released in April by Columbus, Ohio-based Lancaster Pollard are to be believed.
In its survey of about 2,400 multifamily specialists from across the country, Lancaster Pollard found that 39 percent of multifamily leaders predict that affordable apartment projects will see the most growth in demand during 2017. The survey found, too, that 45 percent of respondents were planning affordable multifamily construction projects in 2017.
This is good news. Plenty of new high-end apartment projects have been built across the country. But the rents at these apartment projects are so high that not many consumers can actually afford to live in them. The need for affordable multifamily projects, then, is high.
The survey by Lancaster Pollard is an indication, at least, that some new affordable multifamily developments will be rising this year.
The percentage of survey respondents who said they were planning affordable multifamily projects rose this year by 5 percentage points when compared to the survey’s results of 2016.
And as more developers plan to take on affordable residential projects, the percentage of those saying they planned market-rate residential construction projects this year took a small dip. Lancaster Pollard found that 12 percent of respondents planned a market-rate residential project this year, compared to 17 percent who were planning one last year.
According to the survey, 26 percent of respondents planned to build affordable independent-living seniors projects this year, while 5 percent planned to build market-rate independent-living seniors housing during 2017. An additional 12 percent said they had no residential projects planned for the year.
