MIAMI—Active investors offered their take on the multifamily markets to watch in the East Coast at Real Share Apartments East in Miami last week. Panelists offered heat maps showing the hotbeds of multifamily activity and where interest has cooled, along with what's next in investment, where smart investors are looking and what new opportunities will arise in the year ahead.

Adam Petriella, executive vice president of Coldwell Banker Alliance, moderated the panel called “Heat Mapping the Coast: Investment in Degrees.” He was joined by panelists John Bezzant, executive vice president and CIO of AIMCO and Still Hunter, senior director at Institutional Property Advisors, and Michael Anderson, chairman at Real Source.

“One key factor most economists will all agree is employment,” Anderson told the over 250 RealShare attendeeds. “You can have population growth. You can have a high degree of birth rate and household formations but if they are not employed they are not renting from you. Employment is becoming a very important factor.”