Multifamily activity has become a constant this cycle, but deal volume started to slow this year with fewer and fewer available opportunities. Despite the slowed growth, multifamily has remained strong, and in response to the tremendous activity, JLL has expanded its multifamily team with the addition of real estate veteran Dana S. Brody. Brody joins the firm as SVP in the downtown office and will focus on multifamily investment sales. We sat down with Brody to get her view on the market today and her outlook for the next 18 months.

GlobeSt.com: The Los Angeles multifamily market is continuing to be strong. What are the major drivers of this market, and have they changed at all in the last few years?

Dana S. Brody: Major drivers of the Los Angeles multifamily market include increasing number of renters; longer term renters due to unaffordable housing ownership options and very low inventory of multifamily properties available for sale. People are renting for longer because they can't afford to buy, and rents are increasing based on demand as well as a new supply of luxury new construction units coming online. The U.S will likely add nearly five million renters between now and 2025, well above the numbers we've seen over the last several decades and a trend that is unlikely to change anytime soon. Research shows the U.S is facing an annual shortfall of hundreds of thousands of apartment units.