Southern Nevada’s multifamily housing sector has long been a bright spot of the region’s real estate recovery, drawing investors looking to take advantage of increasing returns as the local economy improves.
Now, a report from two trade groups actually puts numbers on the apartment industry’s local economic impact.
Add up construction, operations and resident spending, and apartments contributed $4.5 billion to the local economy and supported 46,800 jobs across the Las Vegas Valley in 2013, the latest year with available numbers, according to the National Multifamily Housing Council and the National Apartment Association.
To put those numbers in context, the sector’s local economic impact roughly equaled the state’s total taxable sales of $4.4 billion in March 2014.
Its employment base outnumbered the 44,900 locals who work in full-service restaurants.
“After the local economic downturn during the recent recession, job growth in Las Vegas — particularly jobs within the leisure and hospitality sectors — is increasing thanks to increased tourism spending,” said Michael Fazio, executive director of the Nevada State Apartment Association. “As a result, there are positive signs of growth in the area’s apartment market. The rental boom — both locally and nationally — has been fueled by the demographic changes like the growing millennial population and a rediscovery of metropolitan urban cores.”
Apartment construction and operations supported $303.8 million in personal earnings for local workers, the study said.
Also, renter spending valley-wide contributed $3.5 billion to the economy.
“The great news about the apartment industry is that the dollars and jobs don’t end with construction,” Fazio said. “The ongoing operations and resident spending make each apartment community an economic engine, supporting local jobs and making a positive impact in our area — and in towns across the country.”
Nationally, the apartment industry and its 36 million residents contributed $1.3 trillion to the U.S. economy in 2013, supporting 12.3 million jobs.
To see the full data sets on Las Vegas and 39 other metro areas tracked in the study, visit weareapartments.org.
Data service opens
A Texas company that provides data to the commercial real estate industry has expanded its service to Las Vegas.
Cloud-based marketing company RealMassive is offering local brokers services that include real-time market surveys allowing allow property owners, brokers and tenants to collaborate throughout the search process; real-time notification when space comes off of the market; custom marketing channels; and CRENow, which enables syndication to Twitter and other online channels.
Las Vegas is RealMassive’s 33rd new market in six months. It’s also in Atlanta, Dallas, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami and San Francisco, among others.
“Our expansion into the most populous city in Nevada is a big step forward and signifies the intensity of customer need for our products,” said RealMassive CEO Joshua McClure.
RealMassive’s data comes from partnerships with commercial real estate brokerages and hundreds of researchers nationwide.
NAIOP talks develoPMENT
NAIOP Southern Nevada has scheduled its monthly “Developing Southern Nevada” discussion for April 16 from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. inside The Orleans at 4500 W. Tropicana Ave.
Dan Doherty of Colliers International will lead the discussion, which will feature Doug Roberts of Panattoni Development Co., John Stewart of Juliet Land Co., and Fritz Wyler of Prologis.
For more information, visit naiopnv.org.
Contact Jennifer Robison at jrobison@reviewjournal.com. Follow @J_Robison1 on Twitter.
