As New York City's new mayor pushes a rent freeze on the city's beleaguered rent stabilized apartments, a new voice is emerging from the landlord side — and it happens to be the guy who sat next to Zohran Mamdani in the New York state legislature. Meet Kenny Burgos, a former state legislator who is now the CEO of the New York Apartment Association. Kenny has taken a fresh, pragmatic approach to the rent control debate — highlighting data, logic and real-life examples over short-form videos on social media in a way that could be a template for others across the country trying to respond to disproven policy ideas. In addition to the conversation with Kenny, Jay Parsons also shares a brief version of New York's 100+ years of rent control, and how continued tightening has only exacerbated challenges for renters. Also in this episode, Jay shares the latest headlines impacting single-family rentals and introduces a new segment to the podcast called "Good News."

The big six apartment REITs just wrapped up their Q4 2025 earnings calls. Rental housing economist Jay Parsons shares the seven key themes and takeaways from those calls — and what these trends might mean for the broader multifamily market. Those themes include improvement in multifamily fundamentals headed into the spring leasing season (including some initial reduction in concessions) and yet still muted expectations for rent growth in 2026, the continued strength of New York and San Francisco coupled with lingering challenges in other coastal markets (and related news of Camden exiting California), signs of momentum in the supply-drenched Sun Belt, plus more stock buybacks as REITs continue to trade at big discounts to net asset value. Later in the program, Jay welcomes in REIT analyst Jana Galan from Bank of America Securities. Jana gives her take on the effectiveness of buybacks and how Wall Street investors see apartments today compared to other asset classes, as well as her thoughts on the eventual recovery. Additionally, Jay reviews headlines of the week impacting rental housing, and gives his take on a recent congressional hearing on housing affordability and a potential ban on large investors buying single-family homes.

What was the sentiment at the apartment industry's biggest annual get-together, the National Multifamily Housing Council's Annual Meeting? Rental housing economist shares his take on the pulse of the market as part of hig Top 5 takeaways from the event in Las Vegas. In particular, Jay shares color and insights on the wide availability of debt capital, and what implications that's having downstream for would-be sellers and would-be buyers. Jay then welcomes in Jeff Weidell, the CEO of Northmarq, one of the biggest names in multifamily capital markets. Jeff shares his thoughts on how the apartment sector could unfold in 2026, and what could result from the disconnect between buyers chasing distress and actual distress at lower quality that what most buyers want. Jeff also talks about the policy environment for multifamily finance, and how that's changing, as well as his thoughts on the potential privatization of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. And as always, Jay brings back recurring features like "Rental Housing Trivia" and "In the News" — including another myth-buster news article on the role of institutional investors in the single-family housing market.

We've been hearing about the so-called wall of maturities and looming distress in multifamily for a couple years now. So, where is it? When will it show it up? What could it look like, and what implications could it have (or not have) on the broader multifamily market? Rental housing economist Jay Parsons shares the latest on apartment distress, and how we could be seeing a mismatch between capital chasing distressed deals versus actual distressed opportunities in the market. Jay then welcomes in the head of a major apartment lender, Michael Comparato of Benefit Street Partners, to dive deeper into emerging distress. Mike shares his thoughts on how much longer lenders can stay patient, what could push more distressed deals into the market, how the emergence of debt funds have changed the game, and how distressed deals could impact the broader sector. Additionally, Jay brings back recurring segments like "In the News" — highlighting new articles on the proposed ban on institutional SFR investors as well as the increased opportunities for BTR development.

What's the latest on the U.S. apartment market? Rental housing economist Jay Parsons shares fresh data and commentary on multifamily fundamentals across the country — and notes it's no longer as clean-cut as coastal versus Sun Belt. Jay breaks down the key performance indicators from supply and demand to occupancy and rent, hunting for green shoots and giving perspective on when we could see concessions burn off and rent growth rebound. RealPage Chief Economist Carl Whitaker joins the podcast to share his take on the 2026 outlook, particularly around demand drivers given increased uncertainty in the economy. Reduced supply is a given in 2026, but what about demand? And how long will it take to lease up the surge of supply that completed in 2024 and 2025? Additionally, Jay breaks down the latest headlines impacting apartments and single-family rentals, as well as teeing up another edition of "Rental Housing Trivia."

Institutional investors in single-family rentals are suddenly front-page news thanks to President Trump's proposed ban on institutions buying houses. But what does the data and academic research tell us about institutions' impact on home prices, home sales, homeownership, rents and on neighborhoods? And how do those impacts vary in the parts of the country with heavier concentrations of institutional investors? Rental housing economist Jay Parsons breaks down the 10 most common myths we're hearing about institutional investors in single-family housing, and responds to each one with data from academic papers, renter surveys and leading data sources. And to help further the conversation, Jay welcomes in an academic who just published an award-winning, peer-reviewed paper on the impact of institutional investors in housing — Dr. Joshua Coven, a professor at Baruch College in New York City. Professor Coven shares three major takeaways from his study published last year. Additionally, Jay shares his thoughts on the latest headlines touching on apartments and single-family rentals during the "In the News" segment, including high concessions for apartments in Phoenix and other Sun Belt cities.

What's the latest in the single-family rental and build-to-rent market? The sectors are drawing a lot of attention right now, driven by widening discount to rent versus buy. But that isn't translating into improved leasing velocity or rent growth for SFR operators. Why not? Rental housing economist Jay Parsons explains, and outlines what might play out this year. Additionally, Jay shares his take on President Trump's announcement that he will pursue a ban on institutional investors buying single-family homes. Later in the program, Jay welcomes in one of the nation's early pioneers in BTR development — Josh Hartmann, the CEO of NexMetro. Josh shares the great story of how Phoenix became the epicenter of the BTR boom, and gives his take on the sector's future direction. As always, Jay brings back recurring segments like "In the News" (where Jay breaks down a recent article on the sluggish condo market, among other headlines) and "Rental Housing Trivia."

It's predictions time! Rental housing economist Jay Parsons shares 15 predictions for apartments and single-family rentals in 2026 — including his take that apartment absorption could drop off even if job market rallies, and Jay explains why that's not necessarily a bad signal for the sector. Jay also shares his takes on the impact of immigration policy, the outlook for apartment and SFR rents, and what role distress might play in the capital markets. In addition, the main event of this episode is our guest, the one and only John Burns — the founder and CEO of John Burns Research & Consulting. John shares his take on the 2026 outlook for home sales and for rental housing, and why 2026 could be a "boring year" in his words. Additionally, Jay shares the latest headlines touching on rental housing, including a big article from Bloomberg on how "luxury" apartments and pushing down rents even for lower-income renters. 

Rental housing economist Jay Parsons rolls back the tape on his 10 predictions for the apartment and single-family rental market in 2025. What played out as expected, and where did he miss? It turns out there was a common theme among the two big "misses." In the second half of the program, Jay welcomes in Newmark's managing director and head of multifamily capital markets research, Mike Wolfson. Mike shares his own thoughts on how 2025 played out versus expectations, then Jay and Mike discuss the capital markets environment going into 2026. What's driving the return of debt capital back into apartments, and what impact has that had on transactions? Deal flow increased moderately in 2025, but what would it take to get further acceleration in 2026? And where's all that distress we've been hearing is constantly on the horizon? Also, as always, Jay brings back recurring segments like "Rental Housing Trivia" and "In the News," where he shares a surprisingly insightful story from The Wall Street Journal, as well as another headline about the winddown of an apartment REIT that once ranked as the nation's largest apartment owner. 

Are we seeing green shoots in the supply-drenched multifamily market? Rental housing economist Jay Parsons breaks down why the answer is "yes," while cautioning that a "green shoot" is just that — early signs of improved momentum, but not yet a rebound. He also notes that there's a long way to go, and the path to recovery could be choppy and uneven. Jay also reveals the one Sun Belt market seeing more green shoots than others right now, and what that could mean for other markets going forward. Later in the program, Jay welcomes in the CEO of CAPREIT, Andrew Kadish. Jay and Andrew discuss trends in affordable and market-rate housing across the East Coast, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest. Andrew also shares his take on how we can get more affordable housing available for those who need it. And Andrew also tells the story of how the company started by his father ended up with the same name as a Canadian REIT — setting up a lifetime of name confusion. And as always, Jay brings back recurring segments like "In the News" (where he talks about a big headline related to new fee transparency rules), "Rental Housing Trivia" and "New Digs."