A Q and A from Willamete Week in Oregon. "How many apartments are under construction and expected to come online in 2019? I see their unoccupied, half-finished bulks everywhere and wonder: Are we about to see a glut and resulting rent reductions all over town? —Scott R."

"The answer to your second question, Scott, is basically yes. Real estate pros agree the Portland housing market—for both renters and buyers—cooled in 2018 and will continue to slow in the coming year. To the extent markets are a form of mass hysteria, this belief alone—as said pros encourage their clients to sell, sell, sell—could intensify the effect. In-migration and job growth in Portland have slowed, and—as you could have scarcely failed to notice—a substantial number of new apartments have been built."

"CoStar counted 11,000 new units under construction as of last September, and Fannie Mae predicts supply will outstrip demand by 1,500 units over each of the next two years."

The Times Free Press in Tennessee. "With nearly 1,000 apartment units and town homes coming online soon on Chattanooga's Southside, occupancy rates are falling. 'The Chattanooga market is not quite as good as we might think it is,' said John Clark, a long-time residential and commercial developer. 'We continue to build more units than we can absorb even as our absorption rate is declining.'"

The Real Deal on New York. "Equity Residential has finally gone into contract to sell 800 Sixth Avenue for $240 million. Equity Residential’s former CEO, David Neithercut, previously said in July that the company had been looking to offload its apartment buildings on the West Side of Manhattan, where an oversupply of rental apartments had pushed down pricing."

From WICZ in New York. "Dozens of residents made their ways to Binghamton's City Council Chambers on Monday, to share their thoughts on proposed renovations to the historical landmark - Decker Mansion. The overwhelming consensus from many local residents that stood up to spoke was against turning the landmark into student housing, with one man even saying 'the main problem in Binghamton is the city is over saturated with rental units especially student housing.' A response that drew a round of long applause."

The Tampa Bay Times in Florida. "The Hermitage apartments in downtown St. Petersburg have sold for $107.6 million, a near record price per unit for a rental project in the Tampa Bay area. Although more than 2,000 new apartments already have been built in and around downtown St. Petersburg, Darron Kattan of the Tampa brokerage Franklin Street, thinks the market can handle more."

"All of the projects are billed as 'luxury,' with rents to match. Kattan acknowledged a lack of affordable housing and said apartment developers building luxury units might feel 'some short term pain' if rents continue to rise faster than wage increases."

From Bisnow on Georgia. "While rent growth through the third quarter overall was 4.3%, much of that was pushed up by rising construction costs necessitating developers seek higher rents. Plus, there was a flight to affordability as mid-rise apartments outperformed high-rise apartment towers, said Ladson Haddow, an Atlanta-based multifamily consultant. 'I think it's a ceiling as to how much rents can rise. I think the top of the market is topped out,' he said."

"The next test on the durability of apartment rents comes this year as developers release another 5,200 new units in metro Atlanta, according to Haddow & Co. 'We are generally very bullish on Atlanta in 2019, but I wouldn't want to be the guy delivering [new apartments] this summer,' said RADCO CEO Norman Radow. 'How many people can afford $2K rents?'"

From Boise Dev in Idaho. "A downtown Boise project received taxpayer funds to build new housing units. Now, part of the project is being used for hotel-style rentals instead. LocalConstruct of Los Angeles opened The Fowler at 5th St. and Broad St. in 2018. The City of Boise paid LocalConstruct $159,000 as part of its Downtown Boise housing incentive program. It got $1,000 for each of the 159 apartment units in the building."

"Instead of housing, dozens of the units are operating as part of short-term rental business Stay Alfred. The Spokane-based company positions its properties between a hotel offering and Airbnb."

"Stay Alfred has 30 units available in the building, or about 18% of the overall inventory. Signage on the building points Stay Alfred guests to a dedicated lobby set aside for check-in. The hotel-like atmosphere pushed residents Lisa McGrath and Paul Carew to move out."

"'Two months after we moved in, The Fowler announced that Stay Alfred was converting numerous units in the building into short-term rentals,' McGrath told BoiseDev. 'Overnight, (the building) became a hotel – random strangers everywhere, loud fights every night, constant disturbances, theft, a sharp decline in cleanliness – the exact opposite of a neighborhood building.'"

"McGrath says her issue goes beyond the issues they experienced as residents. 'Why did the City of Boise pay housing incentives earmarked for residential housing to a company that converted numerous units into glorified Airbnbs,' she asked."