The Rent Roll with Jay Parsons

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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

How is AI impacting the rental housing business? Rental housing economist Jay Parsons cuts through the noise and the hype to look at the current state of AI in the multifamily and BTR industries, as well as the impact of AI on demand drivers like employment. Additionally, Jay welcomes Tyler Christiansen, the CEO of one of the nation's leading prop tech firms using AI, Funnel. Jay and Tyler discuss what's real and what's not, how to measure the impact of AI on NOI, and what the next advancements in AI could look like for property owners and managers. Additionally, in this week's "In the News" segment, Jay shares some big headlines impacting apartment and SFR operators — including an article challenging the perception of Gen Z'ers being more financially stretched compared to prior generations.

Rental housing economist Jay Parsons shares his top 5 takeaways from the single-family rental REITs' earnings calls — highlights from AMH and Invitation Homes. Jay shares the SFR REITs' take on the current state of the market, and whether they are seeing any signs of a slowdown in leasing. Another big topic: REIT stock prices versus net asset values, and what that widening gap means for the REITs. Jay also discusses the latest data combatting a major myth: The REITs aren't buying much off the MLS; in fact, they're selling a lot more than they're buying, while they continue to invest in new construction of build-to-rent single-family homes. Additionally, for this week's interview, Jay welcomes in the CEO of the nation's largest SFR owner, Dave Feldman of Progress Residential. Dave and Jay discuss myth-busting of SFR myths, the current state of the SFR market, and potential growth channels for Progress Residential. Also in this week's podcast, Jay shares his take on a topic he's asked about a lot — New York City's mayoral election and what it means for apartments — during the "In the News" segment, while also touching on other headlines.