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Forecast jobs uptick expected to stoke apartment demand
Improving apartment operations, favorable pricing draw interest from investors
Apartment operations in Las Vegas will improve as job growth strengthens this year, a quarterly market report from Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services said.
Employers are forecast to add 12,000 jobs during the year, a 1.5 percent increase in payrolls, compared with a 1.1 percent gain last year. While nearly all employment sectors are expected to add jobs this year, the bellwether leisure and hospitality industry will lead the way with 7,400 new employees, the second-quarter report said.
As unemployed workers who moved in with family or friends over the past few years re-enter the workforce, it enables the "debundling" of combined households, which will push demand for apartments, said John Sebree, director of Marcus & Millichap's national multihousing group.
The typically lower-paying hospitality jobs are a strong driver of apartment demand, and greater absorption has supported rent increases.
Asking rents appreciated 1.4 percent to $806 a month in the first quarter, while effective rents -- taking out concessions -- climbed 1.9 percent to $756 a month, Marcus & Millichap found. They're projected to reach $822 and $771 a month, respectively, by year's end.
Improving apartment operations and favorable pricing have attracted both institutional and mom and pop investors to Las Vegas.
The number of transactions more than doubled last year, and the median price rose 4 percent to $28,100 a unit in 2011, compared with a 57 percent drop in the previous year.
Real estate investors Robert Fox and Daniel Gaeta were able to buy a 10-unit downtown apartment complex for $165,000 through an online auction. They're going to put $30,000 into remodeling the units, which will rent for $550 to $650 a month.
"I'm perfectly happy investing in the downtown Las Vegas area and in fact, I would prefer to do that as opposed to other areas," Fox said.
The downtown submarket is becoming more vibrant with the opening of The Smith Center for the Performing Arts, the new Las Vegas City Hall and plans by Zappos.com to move its headquarters to the old City Hall.
CB Richard Ellis multifamily broker Spencer Ballif reported that overall Las Vegas apartment vacancy of 9.41 percent in April, up from 8.97 percent in March. He's showing 6.75 percent vacancy for 40,331 Class A units, or high-end apartments; 9.22 percent vacancy for 47,349 Class B units; and 13.23 percent vacancy for 30,542 Class C units.
Builders are scheduled to complete 472 units in 2012, down from 700 units that came online last year, Marcus & Millichap reported. Completions will pick up in 2013 with about 900 units to be delivered.
Apartment inventory increased 0.7 percent, or by 1,026 units, year-over-year in the first quarter, including 320 units in the South Boulevard apartments that opened in March.
RENTAL HOUSING
Demand for rental housing market is surging as a consequence of the foreclosure crisis that left a glut of vacant homes across the nation.
Rental homes comprise 34 percent of the housing stock, and are growing at an incredible rate of 1.6 million a year, California-based housing consultant John Burns said. They've gone from 33.7 million in 2000 to 37.7 million in 2010, with 45.9 million rental households projected for 2015. Meanwhile, owner-occupied households are actually declining in number.
About 55 percent of new renters are renting single-family homes, while 45 percent are renting apartments. The single-family rental business, which is already larger than the institutional quality apartment business, is booming, Burns said.
"Unprecedented levels of distressed home sales, at price-rent ratios that are the lowest in decades, are driving the boom," he said. "Eventually, most of these renters will become homeowners. In the meantime, smart investors will take advantage of the temporary disconnect in the market."
RENTAL CHALLENGES
The most challenging aspect of managing rental properties is finding the right tenant, a report from online leasing application company LeaseRunner says.
That was the response from 58 percent of landlords and property managers surveyed in the biannual Rental Industry Report. The second-biggest challenge is property maintenance (17 percent), followed by tenant eviction (8 percent); managing lease transactions (7 percent); collecting rent (6 percent); and cash flow (4 percent).
Of respondents who have had to evict a tenant, the most common reason was past-due rent (47 percent), followed by lease terms violations (26 percent); disrespect of neighbors or property (11 percent); and unlawful living conditions (4 percent). Thirty-seven percent said they've never had to evict a tenant.
PAHRUMP GROWTH
Pahrump Land Development and Integral Senior Living broke ground May 15 on a $7.2 million assisted living and memory care facility at 1554 Java Ave. in Pahrump.
The two-story, 50,000-square-foot development, scheduled for completion in spring 2013, will offer 71 studio and one-bedroom units ranging from 376 square feet to 500 square feet. The 3.4-acre site leaves room for expansion.
Robert Walsh, partner in Pahrump Land Development, said the rural community needs a facility for aging residents. It will provide services they need in a location close to their families and quality hospital care, he said.
The Pahrump Land Development partnership includes attorney Walsh, Brock Metzka of Edward Homes and Focus Property Group, which is providing development services. The project will create about 150 construction-related jobs and about 50 staff positions.
