Nearly all of the 50 largest metro areas have become less affordable for renters and first-time homebuyers since 2001, forcing low- and moderate-income residents to pay almost 8 percent more of their incomes for housing than two decades ago, according to a new research report from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Research Institute for Housing America.

The U.S. apartment market was fundamentally changed by COVID-19 back in March 2020. But how the pandemic affected apartment rents depends largely on one thing – location.

Investors are most bullish on the industrial sector as 2021 marches on, followed by the self-storage and multifamily sectors, according to a recent survey of 500 commercial real estate investors by Marcus & Millichap.

Effective asking rents for U.S. apartments climbed 0.6% in February, rising at the fastest single-month pace seen since the middle of 2019.

Despite a tumultuous 2020, a year in which the country was turned upside down by a deadly pandemic that led to economic upheaval, the commercial real estate lending community overwhelmingly believes brighter days are ahead on the business front.

Building permits for the construction of multifamily projects hit an annual level of 557,000 units in January 2021, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s monthly building permits survey.