Multifamily magnetism

At least three sizable apartment complexes with a total value of $42 million are in the construction pipeline in the Spokane area and several sources say they expect to see more apartment projects proposed and under construction here in the coming year.

Thats on top of apartment projects valued at more than $72 million currently in some stage of construction in the Spokane-Coeur dAlene area.

Colin Conway, a broker with Spokane-based commercial real estate brokerage Kiemle & Hagood Co., says he expects this area to see continued growth in development and investment in apartment projects.

Apartments are usually a stable investment vehicle, Conway says. Everybody needs a place to live.

The growth in demand for rental units isnt necessarily tied to the economy, he says.

Even while the economy was growing (before the Great Recession), there was a move toward apartment living, Conway says.

Nationally, a third of the nations population now lives in apartment complexes, and a roughly equal proportion of the Spokane population also lives in rentals, he says.

Renter numbers are only expected to grow, Conway says, adding that an analysis sponsored by the National Apartment Association and the National Family Housing Council concludes that half of all new family households formed this decade will live in rental units.

Were seeing baby boomers move into more multifamily situations and out of single-family homes, Conway says. Were also seeing echo-boomers choosing apartment lifestyles over owning single family homes.

Carl Durkoop, an appraiser with Valbridge Property Advisors Auble, Jolicoeur & Gentry Inc., of Spokane Valley, says that even with new construction, apartment occupancy rates in the Spokane market and nationwide are trending upward, which also is putting upward pressure on rents.

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Multifamily magnetism