Why Multifamily Could Dominate Future Construction

Millennials are affecting the real estate market, causing a shift from suburban homes to multifamily assets in urban cores. Joe Brusuelas of RSM and Lee Menifee of PREI discuss the change.

Millennials have spearheaded the migration from single-family suburban houses to multifamily assets. The demands of the 25-34-year-old age cohort have been influencing not only real estate trends but also workplaces and technology.

Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM, says that the most real estate construction will happen in multifamily, without a doubt.

“I don’t expect to see construction of single family residences reassert itself until the next business cycle,” he says.

Instead, multifamily dwellings, condos and co-ops are the way of the future. And the millennials’ preferences affect industrial real estate as well. “Twenty, 30 years ago, office properties—the best ones—were in the suburbs because that’s where the employees wanted to work,” says Lee Menifee, head of Americas at Prudential Real Estate Investors. “Now they’re in cities because that’s where the employees want to work. It’s just a different set of employees.”

You can watch a clip here: 

Watch the full video or download the transcript here, in which Brusuelas and Menifee discuss other macro disruptions in the real estate market, including global capital flows and the state of retail.