Top Takeaways: 2021 National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) Annual Meeting

Slatt Capital Senior Vice Presidents John Darrow and Thomas Cohen attended the National Multifamily Housing Council’s 2021 Annual Meeting this week in San Diego, California. The following were their top takeaways from the three-day annual event.

• The conference was not as well attended as in prior years, due to capped registration of 2,500 people. Attendees seemed quite willing to meet in person, share information, and discuss transactions.
• Multi-family acquisitions are still getting done, and strong sponsors are finding deals in their strike zone (sticking to their specialties). Even with sky-high prices and strong competition, people are still finding deals.
• There was a lot of conjecture about the post-covid landscape, and what the return to normal will look like, with delinquent tenants and the Government HOPE programs for rental assistance.
• Multi-family operating companies are being proactive in restructuring their business operations. After being forced to navigate the COVID pandemic without proper operational security in place, many companies are allocating resources toward greater risk tolerance for unforeseeable conditions. Global warming’s effect on housing, cybersecurity attacks, and rapidly changing state and local regulations were among threats organizations discussed as needing to be monitored.
• Population migration out of many large markets is creating the opportunity for secondary markets to thrive.
• With companies adopting a higher tolerance for remote work, there is increased interest in suburban neighborhoods further outside of the normal commuting range.

The annual event was a great experience as a whole, and people are excited to be traveling and getting back out to in-person conferences. That being said, the reduced capacity of the NMHC Annual Event this year (2,500 people) created great opportunities for professionals to spend more one-on-one time with existing and potential clients.

John Darrow
Senior Vice President
D: 949.335.782
john.darrow@slatt.com