“I sound to myself like a broken record because I’ve been saying the same thing for quite a few years now,” Mark Obrinsky, chief economist at the National Multifamily Housing Council, told the WSJ. “Demand remains high for apartments.”
Despite rising rental prices and diminishing supply of affordable apartment space, Americans are not buying new homes, which may continue to support residential REITs.
“Most people forming households today are not buying,” Michael DeMarco, president of Mack-Cali, told the WSJ.
ETF investors can also track the broader REITs space with options like the Vanguard REIT ETF (NYSEArca: VNQ), which includes a 16.9% tilt toward residential REITs. VNQ is down 2.3% year-to-date.
iShares Residential Real Estate Capped ETF
Max Chen contributed to this article.