Commercial real estate company CBRE reports multifamily demand in the U S. continued to gain momentum in Q2 2014 as the job market improved and more households are shifting to renting instead of buying. Net absorption grew by an annual rate of 276,200 units, or 1.9%, on a year-over-year basis, led by markets in the South and West. The average vacancy rate of 4.4% edged down year-over-year and remained 60 basis points shy of its historical norm, according to worldpropertychannel.com. Effective rent growth remained strong at 2.9%, on an annualized rate, as rental demand continued to grow. According to Real Capital Analytics, multifamily sales volume exceeded $26 billion in the second quarter of 2014, a 39.3 percent increase year-over-year, registering the strongest gain among all property types, as MHProNews has been informed. Multifamily rents are anticipated to grow over the next five years. ##

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