Don’t Forget, It’s a Big Market Out There

By Michael Kelly
President of Caldera Asset Management

We tend to forget that there is a big apartment market out there. The news reports, analyst articles and REIT reports seem to focus on the top five or six institutional markets, which include the greater Washington D.C. region, New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston and Seattle. Very little is covered on the rest of the U.S. This isn’t shocking since the pricey, sexy deals happen in these markets both on the way up and on the way down. People like to read about high-priced deals involving bigger, well-known players.

The recent news and commentary on the sector made us think about the “haves” (top 15 institutional markets) and the “have nots” (the perceived 45 other markets). One can argue about what should be included in the “institutional” market category. The same can be said for the secondary and tertiary markets where there are high quality deals that could be considered institutional. Alternatively, there are B-/C grade assets in these “Top 15” high-demand markets that no institution would touch due to age, submarket and general condition. However, we kept this analysis to an overall market review where the institutional demand (e.g. REITs, pension funds, foreign capital) is deepest.


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