Last week’s RealShare Apartments conference in Los Angeles was the place to be for multifamily investors, lenders and brokers. With almost 2,000 attendees, this was one of the best turnouts ever. Enthusiasm continues to be high for multifamily properties, despite signs of a returning single-family housing market. For example, while rent hikes could drive some of the best renters into home ownership, financing for homes is still a challenge as credit requirements are high so this will help sustain apartment demand.

The environmental and engineering due diligence industry has a unique “boots on the ground” perspective on the trends in the multifamily and commercial real estate markets. Our services, such as a Property Condition Report and Phase I Environmental Site Assessment, are typically called into play prior to acquisition or financing, so we can serve as a metric for what is going on in the market. A few trends we’ve seen lately include: large portfolios in the 2^nd half of 2012; foreign and institutional investor activity in major markets like NYC and LA; REITs leading the way into secondary markets with others following; very active HUD lenders across the country; and of course busy Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac lenders as well.

Partner’s president Joe Derhake, PE noted some of these and other trends in an interview with GlobeStreet TV during RealShare, and they were also echoed by other panelists throughout the day.