The Las Vegas multifamily market saw high growth in rental rates in April compared to several markets across the U.S., according to a recent report by Axiometrics, a research company that tracks the apartment and student housing market.
Las Vegas landed number 10 on a list of top 50 metros for rental growth, which increased by 6.7 percent over April 2015. Last year, the local market saw an increase of 5.5 percent. The city’s occupancy rate was at 94.5 percent in April, a slight increase over 2015, but just below the national occupancy rate of 95.1 percent. Revenue also grew by 6.9 percent in April.
Las Vegas trailed the leading Sacramento, California, which saw rental growth of 11.4 percent in April, with rental growth in 2015 increasing by 8.8 percent.
The city also fell behind several cities including Portland, Seattle, Riverside, Phoenix, Nashville, Fort Worth, Tampa and Orlando at 6.7 percent in annual growth in the April report.
On the national scope, Axiometrics reports that the national annual effective rent growth rate was down to 3.9 percent, the first time it’s fallen below 4 percent since July of 2014.
“Our forecast has annual effective rent growth at about 3.8 percent for 2016,” said Jay Denton, Axiometrics’ senior vice president of analytics. “Many metros are still coming down from exceedingly high rent growth figures in 2015, but the national market is still achieving rent growth above the long-term average. And, some large markets did experience increased effective rent growth in April, including Seattle, Dallas and Phoenix.”
Also in Nevada, Reno was ranked on the top of the list for annual effective rent growth in April for Axiometrics’ list of top 120 markets, with a 14.4 percent purge in rent over 2015. The city also had a 15.1 percent growth in revenue, with a 97.1 percent occupancy rate.
Reno leads the No. 2 city, Salinas, California, and No. 4 Colorado Springs, Colorado metros in April’s numbers.
SR Construction completes Beerhaus at the Park
Las Vegas-based SR Construction, a design-build contractor, recently completed construction on Beerhaus at the Park project, near New York-New York at MGM’s Park project. The 7,150-square-foot restaurant will feature a continuously changing beer list, a rotisserie, sausage and sandwich menu.
“This was a fun project for us,” said Scott Loughridge, founder and president of SR Construction. “It’s always exciting to be part of a build that so many people, locals and tourists alike, will enjoy. We wish MGM Resorts International’s Beerhaus lots of success and thank everyone involved for a wonderful partnership.”
SR Construction also has several other projects going on around the valley including the downtown federal justice facility scheduled to open this month and several projects for Dignity Health.
Local nonprofit to construct homeless youth center
Help of Southern Nevada, a group that assists low-income families, homeless teens and adults, is expanding its reach with the construction of a new 120-bed facility near Flamingo Road and Maryland Parkway.
The project, which got underway earlier this month, replaces the existing 65-bed facility on Las Vegas Boulevard North and nearly doubles the number of teens Help of Southern Nevada can extend aid to through its Shannon West Homeless Youth Center. The building is pegged to open during the first half of 2017.
The center currently assists youth, ages 16-24, who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. The center helps the at-risk youth become more self-sufficient by providing training and skills to further education, employment and social and life skills.
Lending caps increased amid hot multifamily market
The Federal Housing Financing Agency recently increased the 2016 multifamily lending caps allowable for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The current $31 billion will move up to $35 billion.
The move comes after FHFA saw estimates in the size of the 2016 multifamily market were low because of continued high levels of property acquisitions and deliveries of new construction, along with record number of loan maturities requiring financing.
“FHFA engaged in a thorough analysis of the multifamily market and determined that to adjust to the realities of the market and ensure that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have the flexibility to continue supporting this important sector, an increase in the lending caps is warranted,” said FHFA Director Melvin L. Watt.
WestCare Nevada Women and Children’s Campus rehab project completed
The WestCare Nevada Women and Children’s Campus recently finished renovations on its 33,000-square-foot campus at 5659 Duncan Drive in Las Vegas.
The project was made possible through a $350,000 grant from Nevada Women’s Philanthropy, and another $214,000 in donated labor, construction and trade support from HomeAid Southern Nevada.
The facility now has new energy-efficient windows and doors, a new roof and upgraded security system, which included closed circuit security cameras throughout the facility.