Recently, the National Multifamily Housing Coalition (NMHC) published the results of its quarterly survey. NMHC surveys its members on certain core industry values periodically to gauge market conditions throughout the year. We reveal what industry insiders feel is happening in the multifamily market as of the October survey in today’s BAM blog…

The survey tracks member opinions four times each year (during each quarter) and also asks survey participants about changes from the past quarter (if any). The survey measures four important factors in the multifamily industry: sales volume, how tight the market is, ease of equity financing, and availability/ease of debt financing. We summarize the NMHC survey below, but for the full survey and details, click the link here.

Sales Volume: Survey respondents felt that the sales volume was down; while some (30%) felt it was lower than three months ago, a slightly higher percentage (46%) felt it was unchanged. Another 18% felt it was higher than the last quarter and 6% didn’t know. The total calculated score was 44 and anything below 50 indicates a dropping sales volume.

How Tight the Market Is (High Occupancy/High Rent Increases): The calculated score was 41, with 50 being the baseline. A score of 41 indicates a looser market. Survey participants felt the market was less tight than the previous quarter at 33%, with 53% feeling it was unchanged, and 14% feeling it was tighter.

Equity Financing: The baseline of 50 here also means unchanged, and the total calculated score was a 51. Survey takers came in at 59% feeling it was unchanged from three months ago, 16% felt it was more available, 14% it was less available, and 10% didn’t know or it wasn’t applicable.

Debt Financing: The baseline score of 50 means unchanged and lower than 50 means borrowing conditions have worsened; the total calculated score was 22. A high percentage of survey participants thought it was a worse time to borrow, with 62%, while 26% thought it was unchanged, and a small 6% thought it was a better time to borrow. Only 7% didn’t know or it wasn’t applicable.

Another question asked in this particular survey was if participants felt that tariffs had raised costs in the markets they were familiar with, and/or delayed projects or caused cancellations. The majority of survey takers felt that tariffs had raised costs by “a little” at 54% (when adjusted for “don’t know” replies) with 28% saying it affected them by “a lot.” On whether tariffs had forced cancellations or delays, survey respondents had been split between “caused delays” or “neither one.” Survey takers at 27% felt tariffs had caused delays while 66% felt they hadn’t caused delays or cancellations (when adjusted for “don’t know” replies). Only 6% said they felt tariffs had caused both delays and cancellations and 1% said they’d caused cancellations but not delays.