PALM SPRINGS, CA-The mood was decidedly upbeat at the National Multi Housing Council’s Apartment Strategies Conference, held Tuesday at the La Quinta Resort & Club here. The one-day conference is a precursor to the NMHC’s Annual Meeting, which has attracted over 1,000 people this year.

The day started off on a positive note with the first session, which brought together Jay Lybik, vice president of market research for Equity Residential, Greg Willett, vice president of research and analysis for MPF Research and Mark Obrinsky, NMHC’s chief economist and vice president of research, who moderated. This year should be a strong one for multifamily, though recovery will be slow to moderate, said the researchers.

The fact that vacancy rates are still relatively low and very little supply is coming on line “is setting it up to be a fantastic year,” said Lybik. Still, absorption numbers may actually decline in 2011 and 2012, but that’s only because there isn’t much room to maneuver. “Vacancies came down so much in 2010 that there’s not as much available to be absorbed in 2011 and 2012,” he says.