The Top 10 NREI Stories of 2014

10. Demand for Apartments Proves Stronger Than Thought, Driven by Millennials

Good news for multifamily housing—demand for space is likely to be even stronger than experts estimated, helping the sector keep ahead of new construction for the immediate future, according to the Mid-Year Outlook 2104 from Freddie Mac Multifamily Research.

9. Sears Continues Sinking

News from Sears regarding more store closings, layoffs, leasing agreements with other retailers and capital raising efforts is a sign that the end is near for the troubled retailer, according to several industry experts. Few, if any, hold out any hope that the 128-year-old company can recover.

8. Apartment Developers Overbuild a Few Markets

Apartment developers seem to be building anywhere they can find a patch of land, but a few metro areas are seeing much more construction that others.

Both the supply of new apartments and demand for these units continues to be much stronger than usual, as young people who waited years to form new households finally go shopping for their own places to live. Strong demand is helping to fill new apartments in most parts of the country.

7. Blackstone Faces Speed Bump on Invitation Homes RMBS

Private equity firm Blackstone broke new ground last fall when it launched the first residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) of single-family rental homes. The industry has been keeping close tabs on early performance indicators for the nearly $500 million Invitation Homes securitization.

Although it is still early days since the bonds began selling in November, performance data indicates that the Invitation Homes portfolio has seen an uptick in vacant and delinquent properties and a decline in gross rent.

6. Whole Foods’ New Model for Retail Development Has Backing of Lenders

While traditional retail development continues to be rare, successful grocery chains like Whole Foods are driving a new development model, putting supermarkets on the ground floors of residential buildings in dense urban markets. That type of project has been around for a few years, but it’s becoming more of a trend, industry insiders say, and it’s getting some love from balance sheet lenders.

5. Is a Store Closing Tsunami Ahead?

Store closings and store closing announcements have spiked dramatically, and experts foresee even more closings as retailers cull their underperforming stores and focus on omni-channel retailing.

4. Sam Zell Sticks Up for the '1 Percent'

In the era of "income inequality," it isn't only workers, the unemployed and the poor who are feeling oppressed. Some of the rich are feeling it too. While President Obama is declaring income inequality the “defining issue of our times,” New York Mayor Bill De Blasio is making fixing it his city's top priority and former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich is speaking out about the "war on poor and working families,” a few members of the richest “1 percent” are claiming that the so-called class war isn't only about the 99 percent. They say the rich are the real victims.

3. Wealthy Families See Attractive Opportunities in Commercial Real Estate

Institutional capital has been pouring into the commercial real estate sector recently, helping push investment sales volumes up each year since the downturn. But it’s another pool of capital—funds from high net worth individuals and family offices—that may drive the next wave of investment.

2. Exclusive Report Shows Robust Investor Demand for Seniors Housing

The stars appear to be lining up in favor of a bull run in the seniors housing sector.

Special Multifamily Report Shows the Sector Will Shine Well into the Future

Multifamily fundamentals have managed to steadily grow even stronger over the past six years, even outperforming investors’ expectations in some regions. And today, as the economy and the rest of the commercial real estate industry pick up, and the dark cloud of the Great Recession lifts, multifamily still shines, according to the results of NREI’s exclusive survey.