Multifamily investor sentiment fell this quarter and went from expanding slightly to stagnating on John Burns Research and Consulting's Fear & Greed Index. 16% of multifamily investors reported decreasing their investments during 3Q26, the highest share since 4Q23. Multifamily investors expect asset values to remain unchanged over the next 6 months; investors expect slight asset value growth in each of the other 3 core CRE sectors JBRC tracks.
Advice from JBRC
- Multifamily operators: Don’t underwrite near-term price appreciation. Expense growth is outpacing rent growth, nationally, due to continued oversupply. Lack of NOI growth and no cap rate compression catalysts should keep asset values flat.
- All rental community operators: Prepare for some capital shifts out of single-family rental (SFR) and into build-to-rent (BTR) and multifamily. The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act’s MLS purchase restrictions for 350+ sized institutional operators will reroute some capital to BTR and multifamily, so start positioning your communities and pipelines as the landing spot.
