Welcome back to What's Hot & What's Not CRE — your daily pulse on commercial real estate in America.
Today we're diving into multifamily asset classes — Class A, B, or C: which looks hottest for 2026?
🔥 What's Hot — Class B Wins:
- Higher Cap Rates — 25-50 bps above Class A; value-add deals near 7%
- Affordability Crisis Driving Demand — Teachers, nurses, essential workers staying in workforce housing
- Recession Resilient — Outperforms in 73% of recessions; renters trade down from A to B
- Tightest Vacancy — 3.1% in 2022, 6.1% decade average (500 bps tighter than Class A)
- Value-Add Upside — 15-25% utility savings from efficiency upgrades
❄️ What's Not:
- Class A Luxury Struggling — Vacancy above 10%; 2-3 months free rent concessions
- Class C Limited Upside — Can reposition to "B+" but rent ceiling exists
- Sun Belt Oversupply — Austin, Phoenix, Dallas new Class A competing hard
Takeaway: Class B multifamily offers the best risk-adjusted returns for 2026.
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