Moderate-Income Rental Housing

Webinar Summary: In this webinar, learn about a new report that refutes the current misconception that rental apartments priced for the middle-income workforce—such as teachers, nurses, and first responders—have a lower return on investment than apartments with higher rent levels, paving the way for Moderate-Income Rental Housing to be a competitive ESG investment. The report, sponsored by Affordable Central Texas and the Wells Fargo Foundation, defines a new asset class as Moderate-Income Rental Housing (MIRH), or large, multifamily rental properties occupied by tenants earning between 60 percent and 120 percent of the Median Family Income (MFI) with at least half the residents earning less than 80% of MFI. Analyzing data since 2011, the report demonstrates MIRH assets outperformed rental properties with higher rents, averaged an unleveraged return of 9.4 percent, and had the lowest risk, 2.6 percent spread when compared to other real estate asset classes. The research was prepared by Mark G. Roberts, Director of Research at the Folsom Institute for Real Estate at Southern Methodist University and Crow Holdings, and Jake Wegmann, Associate Professor at the Community & Regional Planning Program at the University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture.