JLL’s Jeff Price: Multifamily Market Could Get Hotter

With occupancy and rent increases at some of the highest peaks in about 30 years, it’s hard to believe that there’s any more room for growth in the multifamily market. But, JLL managing director Jeff Price says the best may be yet to come.

Jeff tells us today’s multifamily market is the best he’s ever seen. Everything coming to market is getting absorbed; and this is before the mammoth employers (like Toyota and Liberty Mutual, for instance) have even opened shop. Transaction volume has been picking up steadily throughout the first half of the year and Jeff believes he’ll finish the year with more volume than 2014. (It may be reminiscent of ’06 and ’07 levels.) Pricing is holding up and even going up a bit for value-add type deals, he says. Buyers can expend some money and renovate property physically or operationally and still see a big ROI, he says. Pictured: NorthMarq Capital’s Phillip Bankhead, Jeff, Cannonball’s Jennifer Rucker and Thompson Realty Capital’s William Field at Bisnow’s DFW multifamily event earlier this year.

Jeff tells us he and SVPs Bill Simmons and Jorg Mast recently wrapped up the sale of Jefferson Creekside, a new Class-A multifamily in Allen. Starlight US Multi-Family purchased the 444-unit project for an undisclosed amount with the property just completing lease-up at the time of sale. The JLL team repped the seller, JPI. Jeff tells us three projects in the listing pipeline: the 528-unit Marquis at Waterview in Richardson was just listed, an Arlington/Grand Prairie area project with about 300 units on the cusp of being listed, and a Frisco project with about 230 units will be on the market in a few weeks. All three are value-add, but in submarkets with a big demand for units, he says.