Bellwether

Bellwether’s Salt Lake City office recently hosted a debt-focused real estate case competition for undergraduate students from three local universities. In the regional round, held on each campus, teams presented a multifamily debt origination opportunity. The winning team from each university advanced to the final round at Bellwether’s office, where they analyzed a loan modification scenario with a loan leverage component and presented their proposal to Bellwether’s senior leaders. Competitors gained insight into real estate debt asset management and finalists received a cash prize. Congratulations to our winners from Utah State University!

Thanks so much to Chantalle Rochel (MRED 2018) of Bellwether for last week’s Speaker Series presentation! Thank you, Chantalle, for sharing your journey in real estate and your perspective on industrial and studio asset management. Current MREDs: If you were on-site, what did you think? Find any great takeaways? ??

To continue our employee spotlight series, we’d like to highlight Freya Haksar, a senior analyst on our equity asset management team in Los Angeles.

* Between the end of 2020 and 2021, the multifamily market experienced widespread rent growth that rocketed well above the average annual growth rate. Many markets had annual rent growth in the double digits compared to the 2010-2020 average of 2.3%. * Over the course of 2021, the highest growth regions were in the “sunshine” states across the southern United States. Markets with the strongest year-over-year rent growth, like Las Vegas, Tampa and Orlando, typified the trend with strong in-migration generating high levels of demand for housing.? * Since then, annual rent growth has reverted towards the mean. Many of the high-growth markets began to see accelerated supply growth that reduced pricing pressure. The top three growth markets in 2021 had new deliveries averaging 4.5% of their total inventory in 2024, whereas the bottom three growth markets in 2021 had new deliveries averaging 2.3% of their inventory in 2024. * Today, many of the markets that experienced slower rent growth between 2020 and 2021 are seeing stronger rent growth than the previous high-growth markets from four years ago. Detroit, Kansas City, and Cleveland (which ranked 31st, 37th, and 39th in rent growth in 2021) led annual rent growth at approximately 3.0% in 2024 as they caught up to nationwide increases that reset average rents higher. Alternatively, rent growth leaders in 2021, like Las Vegas and Orlando, experienced negative rent growth in 2024 as supply growth outpaced demand in those markets. * However, the recent surge in construction that occurred in many high-growth markets is already easing. Many of the projects under construction have already delivered and are being absorbed by the market. Additionally, new multifamily construction starts have dropped significantly in 2024, which has caused the supply pipeline to shrink considerably in most markets. * The shocks of 2020 are still making their way through the system. Supply and demand continue to rebalance to an equilibrium, that will likely result in a regression to a long-term national average rental growth rate between 2% and 3%. For more Bellwether Charts for Thought, click here: https://lnkd.in/gXBsshS5

We'd like to recognize Logan David and John Castles for offering their mentorship and guidance through BL Next, a program that aims to connect student athletes with commercial real estate professionals.

We're excited to welcome our new Managing Director Carlton Johnson to the Bellwether team. Carlton comes to Bellwether with over 20 years of commercial real estate experience and is responsible for leading a team focused on equity asset management.??

Happy holidays from all of us at Bellwether! Wishing you a wonderful season and a happy new year!

It is with great pleasure that we congratulate Michelle Weston as the LT Executive Search 2024 scholarship winner. To a bright future ahead! #womenincre #studentloanpayoff #thefuture

We're excited to attend CREFC Miami in January and connect with #CRE finance professionals. Please reach out to connect. Jonathan Shapiro Greg Fink Jim Mosier AJ King, CPA Patrick Cotter #CREFCMiami #CREFinance #CRE CRE Finance Council

Continuing Bellwether's 2024 Holiday Philanthropy, we participated in The Midnight Mission and HomeLight Family Living's Adopt-a-Family holiday program. HomeLight Family Living is a transitional housing and supportive services program helping families experiencing homelessness regain stability and permanent housing. We split into groups and sponsored eight families' wish lists, donating over a total of 100 gifts. Several of us also had the opportunity to attend the HomeLight Family Living holiday party, where we met the families we sponsored and heard stories from alumni of the program.