Rental housing economist Jay Parsons makes the case for why rate cuts make sense — and how the government's inflation measure may have masked the earlier cooldown in inflation, in addition to recent downward revisions in job growth. Additionally, Jay welcomes in the head of the Terwilliger Center for Housing Policy — named for the long-time CEO of Trammell Crow Residential — to talk pro-housing policy. Will the White House declare a "national housing emergency" as reported, and if so, what does that mean for apartment and SFR investors and developers? How do we solve for the growing shortage in affordable housing, including properties with expiring tax credits? Should the federal government do more to dictate terms for LIHTC in ways that make the program more efficient and productive? What other housing policies can help move the needle on housing affordability and housing availability? Also in the program, Jay reviews a slew of new headlines touching on rental housing issues, including a big report highlighting how SFR helps diversify neighborhoods, a survey on the impact of immigration agents visiting construction sites, and a review of Amazon's efforts to build affordable housing in their key employment markets. 

What's the latest on multifamily capital markets? Rental housing economist Jay Parsons shares the latest data on apartment sales, cap rates and debt trends before welcoming in the chief economist of MSCI Real Assets, Jim Costello. Jim and Jay discuss potential distress in the apartment sector, the lack of development capital, the influx of debt funds, and the current buy box for institutional capital. And when do we see apartment sales transactions finally start to take off again? Additionally, it was a busy news week — with lots of headlines to cover for the "In the News" segment, including a possible ballot measure to bring back rent control in Massachusetts. 

Rental housing economist Jay Parsons welcomes in TruAmerica's Matt Ferrari to talk about his recent trek to the summit of Earth's highest mountain top (Mount Everest) ... and also dive into the current state of the multifamily acquisitions market. Matt summited Mount Everest in May, and shares the remarkable level of prep ahead of the journey ... as well as nail-biting deals of the trip to nearly 30,000 feet above sea level. Later in this week's conversation, Jay and Matt shift gears and talk shop. TruAmerica is one of the relatively few firms that remains an active apartment buyer right now. Where are they finding value right now, and how are they able to remain active when most others cannot? In particular, Jay and Matt discuss how the right value-add deals can still work. Additionally, Jay brings back recurring segments like "In the News," "New Digs," and "Rental Housing Trivia."

Rental housing economist Jay Parsons welcomes in the nation's leading voice on rental housing tax policy, Michael Novogradac of Novogradac & Co., to talk about the One Big Beautiful Bill and its potential impact on housing and on affordable housing construction, specifically. Michael had testified to both the House and Senate about housing issues prior to the bill passing, so now looking back, how would he grade the bill specifically on housing policy? Additionally, Jay shares a groundbreaking new study by former professors at Harvard and UC-Berkeley examining a very timely question: How do tenant protections like "just cause eviction," right-to-counsel and source-of-income laws impact rents? And as usual, Jay brings back recurring podcast segments like "In the News" and "Rental Housing Trivia."

What do most GPs need right now but relatively few can find? LP equity! Special guest Dan Meader — founder and managing partner at Trinity Investors, a leading LP in the rental housing space with roughly 22,000 units — joins the podcast to talk LP equity. What are LP investors looking for in apartment and SFR deals? What are they looking for in a GP, and how can LPs best court them? Additionally in this episode, Jay breaks down the latest Census data on multifamily housing starts. The Census is showing a very strong rebound in starts in June and July. Jay shares some empirical evidence to challenge the Census data, and instead suggests starts remain soft — leveling off at best. Additionally, Jay brings back recurring segments like "In the News" and "Rental Housing Trivia."

It's apartment REIT week on The Rent Roll podcast, as economist Jay Parsons shares his top 5 takeaways from the Q2 2025 earnings calls. In particular: What are REITs doing to add value amidst this era of high supply and flat-to-falling new lease rents? REITs shared some insights into their strategies on renovations, expense control, retention and technology. Additionally, Jay welcomes in REIT guru and analyst Rich Hightower, the managing director for U.S. REIT research at Barclays. Rich and Jay talk about how Wall Street views the multifamily REITs today, why the public markets value apartments less than the private market, and why we've seen more apartment REITs taken private than we've seen go public in recent decades. Jay also shares his take on the latest REIT exit, with Elme Communities selling off a large chunk of assets to Cortland. Also in this episode, Jay brings back recurring segments of Rental Housing Trivia and In the News.

Rental housing economist Jay Parsons shares his top 5 takeaways from the single-family REITs' earnings calls last week — AMH and Invitation Homes. Are the SFR players still focused on building BTR? Are they buying off the MLS again? What impact are they seeing from the reduced number of first-time homebuyers? And is new lease rent growth — which has been soft — showing signs of rebounding? Additionally, Jay welcomes in Amherst Chairman and CEO Sean Dobson for an extended conversation on the state of the SFR industry. As one of the early players in the institutional SFR market, Sean shares his perspective on how and why narratives devolved into myths and conspiracy theories. What can and should operators do to push back against false narratives? Additionally, Jay and Sean talk about the current leasing environment, the role of build-to-rent supply is slowing rent growth, and the long-term need for quality single-family rentals to help address the housing crisis. Furthermore, Jay brings back recurring segments like "In the News" and "Rental Housing Trivia."

Why is apartment rent growth slowing down again? That's the big plot twist in the latest data on the U.S. apartment market. Rental housing economist Jay Parsons dives into that question and much more in this Q3 2025 Apartment Market Update and Outlook. Later in the program, Jay welcomes in CBRE's Americas head of multifamily research, Matt Vance. Jay and Matt chat about what is driving the current slowdown in rent growth, while also highlighting the continued strong demand, improved affordability trends and low turnover. And what markets could recover first, particularly among the high-supplied Sun Belt and Mountain markets? Jay and Matt also talk about the state of the multifamily capital markets, and when we'll see all that much-discussed dry powder drive sales volumes back up. Additionally, Jay reviews the latest headlines in rental housing — including some major news on the single-family rental market — and offers up another edition of "Rental Housing Trivia."

It's the valuation edition, featuring Cushman & Wakefield's head of valuation and advisory for the living sector, Zach Bowyer. Jay and Zach discuss where asset values are today (for apartments and SFR) compared to the peak, and how much interest rates play a role in the decline relative to the rent and NOI slowdown. Jay asks Zach to opine on how he thinks about values, what most of us laypeople get wrong about valuation, and his thoughts on where values go from here. Additionally, in the "Here's a Chart" segment, Jay breaks down why the latest Census data on multifamily starts appears highly suspect, as well as the big story on CPI inflation not getting enough attention right now. Jay also reviews the latest headlines impacting multifamily and SFR, including news about the potential launch of a new apartment REIT.

Rental housing economist Jay Parsons is joined by commercial real estate journalist Hiten Samtani for a hearty discussion on how the media covers apartments and single-family rentals. Jay and Hiten talk about the "lost art of beat reporting," with relatively short tenures on the housing beat, and how that impacts rental housing coverage. Hiten also challenges rental housing owners to call out the bad apples from their bunch, and the two then commiserate on something the media and housing industries share in common: public images tainted by the small share of bad actors. Hiten also shares some advice: How can apartment and SFR owners and managers proactively work to combat misleading headlines, or should they just ignore it? Additionally, Jay brings back recurring segments like Here's a Chart, Rental Housing Trivia and In the News.