Is it time to worry about apartments and single-family rentals? We're hearing more talk about a possible recession — fueled by a softening labor market and a government shutdown. Rental housing economist Jay Parsons breaks down the latest data in the economy and in housing to find clues on the direction of the market. Jay shares his take on the various mixed signals, and offers up tips and strategies for preparing for the road ahead. Later in the program, Jay welcomes in Middleburg Communities founder and CEO Chris Finlay. Jay quizzes Chris on Middleburg's investment and development strategies for 2026 and beyond. Perhaps most impactfully, Chris and Jay talk about the non-profit organization Chris founded, Entryway, that helps people struggling with homelessness receive job training and employment opportunities within the apartment industry — and with impressive results. Furthermore, Jay tees up a particularly overlooked — but important — piece of history for Rental Housing Trivia. And, as usual, Jay breaks down the latest headlines touching on multifamily and SFR.
It's that time of year: Budget season. Rental housing economist Jay Parsons offers up data, tips and ideas for how to think about revenue and expenses in 2026. We know supply will drop off, but will occupancy rates stabilize and concessions burn off? Will rents rebound? Will we continue to see high retention and steady renewal rent growth, or could some operators run into challenges with inverted rent rolls and gain-to-lease scenarios pushing down renewals? And what about operating expenses? Expense growth has (finally) cooled off materially of late, so will that continue into 2027? To further aid the discussion, Jay welcomes in Sue Ansel, the CEO of one of the nation's largest owner-manager-developers, Gables Residential. Sue shares her take on the year ahead for revenue and expenses, while offering up practical tips for thinking about operating budgets in 2026. Additionally, Jay brings back recurring features like "In the News" and "Rental Housing Trivia."
Rental housing economist Jay Parsons shares his take on the latest data on multifamily fundamentals. Is demand holding strong? Why are rents falling? Is supply still trending down? Are renters still renewing leases at record levels? Is there any sign of an impact from slowing job growth? Jay breaks down the Q3 and September data in hopes of providing some clarity amidst the Year of Uncertainty. For additional clarity, Jay welcomes onto the podcast Alyson Bode, the SVP for research and data strategy at Kettler. Jay and Alyson talk about how 2025 has played out versus expectations going into the year, and also discuss the outlook for 2026 and beyond. As usual, Jay also brings back recurring features like "In the News" and "Rental Housing Trivia."
The Rent Roll hits the road for its first episode in front of a live audience! Rental housing economist Jay Parsons interviews the executive leadership of apartment developer JPI — CEO Payton Mayes, CFO/CIO Mollie Fadule and chief of construction and design Kyley Harvey. The group discusses the case for building apartments now, impediments to getting new projects started, expansion into new markets and the impact of tariffs and immigration policy on construction. Additionally, Jay lays out the latest data on apartment construction. When does supply finally taper off, and when could rent growth rebound? How does supply timing differ by market? Jay also tackles a handful of headlines in this week's "In the News" section, including recent articles on "accidental landlords," rental registries, the curious evaporation of investor interest in building in Los Angeles, and the potential impact of TOPA reform in Washington, D.C.
Is there demand for family-friendly, Class A apartments? Bobby Fijan — aka the "Bill James of apartment floorplans" — joins the podcast to make the case. Bobby partnered with Arnold Ventures on a first-of-its-kind, in-depth study on family-friendly apartments. Will people pay for luxury apartments suitable for kids? Why are so few apartments today built with families in mind? What makes a "family-friendly" apartment? Rental housing economist Jay Parsons walks through the findings with Bobby. Jay also tees up a Rental Housing Trivia question centered on the increased prevalence of smaller units targeted for single, child-less adults. Additionally, Jay breaks down a busy week of headlines touching on rental housing policy issues across the country.
Rental housing economist Jay Parsons reviews the current state of affairs in the single-family rental market, sharing the latest data and trends. Is the ice-cold homebuyer market causing a big boom in SFR? Not exactly, but the SFR market is holding up fine — underscoring its lower-volatility nature. Additionally, Jay welcomes in this week's special guest, Scott Eisen. Scott is the chief investment officer and executive vice president at one of the nation's largest SFR owners, Invitation Homes. Jay and Scott talk about myths versus realities in the SFR market, and delve into Invitation Homes' growth strategy. How active is Invitation as a buyer on the MLS versus building and buying new build-to-rent homes? How eager are homebuilders to sell "excess inventory" to SFR owners at a time when many would-be homebuyers are sidelined? And as usual, Jay brings back recurring segments like "In the News" and "Rental Housing Trivia."
Rental housing economist Jay Parsons makes the case for why rate cuts make sense — and how the government's inflation measure may have masked the earlier cooldown in inflation, in addition to recent downward revisions in job growth. Additionally, Jay welcomes in the head of the Terwilliger Center for Housing Policy — named for the long-time CEO of Trammell Crow Residential — to talk pro-housing policy. Will the White House declare a "national housing emergency" as reported, and if so, what does that mean for apartment and SFR investors and developers? How do we solve for the growing shortage in affordable housing, including properties with expiring tax credits? Should the federal government do more to dictate terms for LIHTC in ways that make the program more efficient and productive? What other housing policies can help move the needle on housing affordability and housing availability? Also in the program, Jay reviews a slew of new headlines touching on rental housing issues, including a big report highlighting how SFR helps diversify neighborhoods, a survey on the impact of immigration agents visiting construction sites, and a review of Amazon's efforts to build affordable housing in their key employment markets.
What's the latest on multifamily capital markets? Rental housing economist Jay Parsons shares the latest data on apartment sales, cap rates and debt trends before welcoming in the chief economist of MSCI Real Assets, Jim Costello. Jim and Jay discuss potential distress in the apartment sector, the lack of development capital, the influx of debt funds, and the current buy box for institutional capital. And when do we see apartment sales transactions finally start to take off again? Additionally, it was a busy news week — with lots of headlines to cover for the "In the News" segment, including a possible ballot measure to bring back rent control in Massachusetts.
Rental housing economist Jay Parsons welcomes in TruAmerica's Matt Ferrari to talk about his recent trek to the summit of Earth's highest mountain top (Mount Everest) ... and also dive into the current state of the multifamily acquisitions market. Matt summited Mount Everest in May, and shares the remarkable level of prep ahead of the journey ... as well as nail-biting deals of the trip to nearly 30,000 feet above sea level. Later in this week's conversation, Jay and Matt shift gears and talk shop. TruAmerica is one of the relatively few firms that remains an active apartment buyer right now. Where are they finding value right now, and how are they able to remain active when most others cannot? In particular, Jay and Matt discuss how the right value-add deals can still work. Additionally, Jay brings back recurring segments like "In the News," "New Digs," and "Rental Housing Trivia."
Rental housing economist Jay Parsons welcomes in the nation's leading voice on rental housing tax policy, Michael Novogradac of Novogradac & Co., to talk about the One Big Beautiful Bill and its potential impact on housing and on affordable housing construction, specifically. Michael had testified to both the House and Senate about housing issues prior to the bill passing, so now looking back, how would he grade the bill specifically on housing policy? Additionally, Jay shares a groundbreaking new study by former professors at Harvard and UC-Berkeley examining a very timely question: How do tenant protections like "just cause eviction," right-to-counsel and source-of-income laws impact rents? And as usual, Jay brings back recurring podcast segments like "In the News" and "Rental Housing Trivia."
What do most GPs need right now but relatively few can find? LP equity! Special guest Dan Meader — founder and managing partner at Trinity Investors, a leading LP in the rental housing space with roughly 22,000 units — joins the podcast to talk LP equity. What are LP investors looking for in apartment and SFR deals? What are they looking for in a GP, and how can LPs best court them? Additionally in this episode, Jay breaks down the latest Census data on multifamily housing starts. The Census is showing a very strong rebound in starts in June and July. Jay shares some empirical evidence to challenge the Census data, and instead suggests starts remain soft — leveling off at best. Additionally, Jay brings back recurring segments like "In the News" and "Rental Housing Trivia."
It's apartment REIT week on The Rent Roll podcast, as economist Jay Parsons shares his top 5 takeaways from the Q2 2025 earnings calls. In particular: What are REITs doing to add value amidst this era of high supply and flat-to-falling new lease rents? REITs shared some insights into their strategies on renovations, expense control, retention and technology. Additionally, Jay welcomes in REIT guru and analyst Rich Hightower, the managing director for U.S. REIT research at Barclays. Rich and Jay talk about how Wall Street views the multifamily REITs today, why the public markets value apartments less than the private market, and why we've seen more apartment REITs taken private than we've seen go public in recent decades. Jay also shares his take on the latest REIT exit, with Elme Communities selling off a large chunk of assets to Cortland. Also in this episode, Jay brings back recurring segments of Rental Housing Trivia and In the News.
Rental housing economist Jay Parsons shares his top 5 takeaways from the single-family REITs' earnings calls last week — AMH and Invitation Homes. Are the SFR players still focused on building BTR? Are they buying off the MLS again? What impact are they seeing from the reduced number of first-time homebuyers? And is new lease rent growth — which has been soft — showing signs of rebounding? Additionally, Jay welcomes in Amherst Chairman and CEO Sean Dobson for an extended conversation on the state of the SFR industry. As one of the early players in the institutional SFR market, Sean shares his perspective on how and why narratives devolved into myths and conspiracy theories. What can and should operators do to push back against false narratives? Additionally, Jay and Sean talk about the current leasing environment, the role of build-to-rent supply is slowing rent growth, and the long-term need for quality single-family rentals to help address the housing crisis. Furthermore, Jay brings back recurring segments like "In the News" and "Rental Housing Trivia."
Why is apartment rent growth slowing down again? That's the big plot twist in the latest data on the U.S. apartment market. Rental housing economist Jay Parsons dives into that question and much more in this Q3 2025 Apartment Market Update and Outlook. Later in the program, Jay welcomes in CBRE's Americas head of multifamily research, Matt Vance. Jay and Matt chat about what is driving the current slowdown in rent growth, while also highlighting the continued strong demand, improved affordability trends and low turnover. And what markets could recover first, particularly among the high-supplied Sun Belt and Mountain markets? Jay and Matt also talk about the state of the multifamily capital markets, and when we'll see all that much-discussed dry powder drive sales volumes back up. Additionally, Jay reviews the latest headlines in rental housing — including some major news on the single-family rental market — and offers up another edition of "Rental Housing Trivia."
It's the valuation edition, featuring Cushman & Wakefield's head of valuation and advisory for the living sector, Zach Bowyer. Jay and Zach discuss where asset values are today (for apartments and SFR) compared to the peak, and how much interest rates play a role in the decline relative to the rent and NOI slowdown. Jay asks Zach to opine on how he thinks about values, what most of us laypeople get wrong about valuation, and his thoughts on where values go from here. Additionally, in the "Here's a Chart" segment, Jay breaks down why the latest Census data on multifamily starts appears highly suspect, as well as the big story on CPI inflation not getting enough attention right now. Jay also reviews the latest headlines impacting multifamily and SFR, including news about the potential launch of a new apartment REIT.
Rental housing economist Jay Parsons is joined by commercial real estate journalist Hiten Samtani for a hearty discussion on how the media covers apartments and single-family rentals. Jay and Hiten talk about the "lost art of beat reporting," with relatively short tenures on the housing beat, and how that impacts rental housing coverage. Hiten also challenges rental housing owners to call out the bad apples from their bunch, and the two then commiserate on something the media and housing industries share in common: public images tainted by the small share of bad actors. Hiten also shares some advice: How can apartment and SFR owners and managers proactively work to combat misleading headlines, or should they just ignore it? Additionally, Jay brings back recurring segments like Here's a Chart, Rental Housing Trivia and In the News.
American Homes 4 Rent CEO Bryan Smith joins rental housing economist Jay Parsons on the podcast to reflect back on the early years of institutional single-family rentals, and how AMH became one of the leading players in the still-small institutional SFR market. How much have the initial strategies held up since AMH's 2013 IPO? You might be surprised to find it's quite a lot -- from target demographics to asset types to centralized operating strategies. Bryan also shares what drove AMH to move away from buying individual homes, and shift heavily into building new BTR homes. Jay and Bryan also talk about expansion markets, as well as how a healthier homebuyer market could benefit the rental housing business. Additionally, Jay reviews headlines impacting rental housing — including California legislation weakening NIMBYs' abilities to block new housing, as well as implications of the New York City mayoral race on apartments.
Waterton co-founder, CEO and Chairman David Schwartz joins The Rent Roll podcast to talk contrarian apartment investing strategies with rental housing economist Jay Parsons. David shares his story getting into the multifamily industry in the 1980s amidst a period of economic turmoil combined with unfavorable views of apartments. He played key roles at then-emerging names like AMLI and Equity Residential before co-founding Waterton, where he's built a business around investing in out-of-favor markets. David and Jay talk about how a market can be favorable one day and then unfavorable the next, and also discuss the difference between a smart contrarian strategy versus a wild bet. Additionally, Jay breaks down the latest headlines in multifamily and SFR, while also opening up the history books for this week's Rental Housing Trivia.
Is the U.S. apartment market slowing down? Rental housing economist Jay Parsons dives into the data to evaluate whether apartment owners and managers should be concerned. Why is rent growth moderating again and concessions ticking back up if demand remains strong, occupancy is holding steady, supply is declining and renter rent-to-income ratios are improving? And in the second half of this episode, Jay welcomes in David Todd, the CEO of Maymont Homes, the single-family rental platform owned by Brookfield Asset Management. David opens up the hood on Maymont's proprietary model to identify markets for investment. Also, Jay and David talk about why SFR operators would benefit from a stronger for-sale housing market. Additionally, Jay brings back recurring segments like "In the News" and "Rental Housing Trivia."
The man's alter ego is the famed CRE Analyst account with more than 90,000 followers — James Ray, the co-founder of CRE Analyst and a managing director at MetLife. James joins rental housing economist Jay Parsons to make his case for why "cap rates are B.S.," why the wall of maturities is overblown, explains why the "buy versus build" debate isn't as simply as often portrayed, and shares how institutional investors are thinking about multifamily, single-family rentals and build-to-rent homes right now. Additionally, James shares the remarkable story of what drives his passion for training up the next generation through CRE Analyst and through teaching in higher education — sharing how his childhood bouncing around between trailer parks shaped him for roles on Wall Street managing commercial real estate portfolios and on Zoom calls training up the next generation of CRE leaders. Additionally, Jay breaks down the latest data on apartment rents — and offers up a theory on why rent growth has slowed back down despite continued strong demand, stable occupancy and improving affordability. Jay also brings back recurring segments like "Rental Housing Trivia" and "In the News."
