PCBC 2010 - Prepare for a Rebound

Multifamily Trends Conference Preview: Prepare for a Rebound

Now in its ninth year, PCBC's Multifamily Trends Conference, developed in partnership with Marcus & Millichap for 2010, is dedicated entirely to providing attendees with the insight and knowledge needed to navigate the multifamily development and investment market. After speaking with Hessam Nadji, Senior Vice President & Managing Director of Research Services for Marcus & Millichap, a theme for this year’s conference became clear: 2010 is a staging year and Multifamily Trends will prepare you for the rebound.

According to Nadji, the worst of the downturn in the multifamily market is over and is now in a stabilization period, giving way to a year in which property owners and multifamily developers can examine their portfolios and determine what to buy and sell, and where and what to build. He cited reports from the first quarter of the year showing more stable occupancy rates and decreases in the steep discounts offered to renters in order to retain them as tenants. He also cited a return of investors to the market as property owners are beginning to see multiple offers, a signal of stabilized product.

“This is an interesting period for the multifamily market as we appear to be stabilizing from the worst crisis in occupancy faster than anyone had anticipated,” said Nadji. “This will be a staging year and allow property owners and developers a chance to set up for what we see will be the strongest recovery in history from 2011 to 2016.”

PCBC’s Multifamily Trends Conference, he said, will provide companies with the knowledge and insight needed to prepare for that recovery.

“By 2011, we should be well under way with a recovery in the new cycle, so it was important for us to develop content around this planning cycle to help prepare companies for the rebound,” said Nadji. “We’ve really tried to position the conference to address the components of investment strategy and try to pinpoint how strong the recovery will be to show the audience that it’s now safe to shift from a defensive position into an offensive one.”

Among the sessions developed for the conference will be an entire segment dedicated to a local market drill-down on apartment supply and demand forecasts. Half of the session will be dedicated to the Northern California/Pacific Northwest region, while the other half will tackle the Southern California/Southwest region, both offering insight into when and where the strongest rental market recoveries will take place.

Another session will dissect capital markets and apartment investment strategy by looking at financing options currently available and what to expect in the future, both in the short- and long-term. The session will also cover the viability of Fannie and Freddie in the wake of continued political pressure to reign in deficits, and will also address how all of these factors will affect construction financing in the near future.

Nadji said that the panels will consist of the most renowned and seasoned industry experts, which he dubbed “The Wisdom Panel”, who will be able to put perspective on the topics being discussed. He said that property owners should walk away with a sense of how to improve operations, what to buy and sell, and whether or not to add to their portfolios, while multifamily developers should get a specific sense of timing, location, and the type of product they should build.

“We’ve worked hard to design the conference to be a gathering of practitioners as opposed to theorists,” said Nadji. “We want to add value by having practitioners share their knowledge and experience with other practitioners, and that’s really what PCBC’s Multifamily Trends is all about.”

PCBC’s Multifamily Trends Conference will take place Wednesday, June 9, at PCBC 2010.

View Conference Agenda & Speakers