What we can learn from C&W’s multifamily portfolio

There is much to be learned from third-party data sources in any area of ​​CRE, including multifamily. But this is data available to everyone. Cushman & Wakefield collected data from the 182,000-unit portfolio of properties it manages for clients. The company looked for key trends.

In short, they say the year started strong. “The market has pulled back from 2021 levels, but our portfolio performance does not reflect recessionary conditions,” they wrote. “We have seen a rebound in transactions, resilient occupancy, reduced concessions and even better performance among the more than 8,000 units we manage in the build-to-rent (BTR) space.

Somewhat surprising has been that occupancy has held up so far, despite increased supply from record deliveries in 2023 and 2024. “Nationally, the US has seen occupancy continue to degrade – total occupancy is down 130 basis points (bps) from last year, while steady occupancy declined by 65 bps,” they wrote. Cushman & Wakefield said its portfolio saw occupancy increase 176 basis points year over year.

It is important to note that a national average would include every market and type of multifamily property in the country. Chances are that Cushman & Wakefield’s client list is not representative of the broader market, so expecting similar results would be statistically unrealistic.

They also saw leasing transactions begin to accelerate during the spring and expect the trend to continue into the summer. “Much of the rebound can be attributed to new leasing transactions,” they wrote. “In the fall and winter, they fell into negative territory, but rebounded strongly in 2024. And that outperformed the U.S. average, which also rebounded, albeit less than what our portfolio showed.”

On the build-to-rent side of the portfolio, rent growth has outpaced national trends, even though 20% of inventory is under construction. BTR rents, according to CoreLogic, rose 3.4% year over year in April. Overall multifamily growth was 1.5%. In Cushman’s portfolio, the BTR portion outperformed portfolio-wide delinquency rates by 185 basis points.

Delinquency rates also continued to decline for BTR and the overall portfolio as some NPLs were resolved.