A whitepaper from Meketa Investment Group makes the institutional investment case for impact-driven multifamily housing, the affordable and workforce segment covering roughly 70 percent of the US apartment stock. The paper frames returns as coming from operations and preservation rather than rent growth and contrasts the segment's demand and volatility profile with market rate multifamily.
Specifically, the research found that:
- Occupancy at affordable properties is structurally higher and less cyclical than market rate multifamily.
- Returns are driven primarily by property operations rather than rent growth, aligning with core real estate return expectations.
- The preservation of existing affordable stock delivers scale that new construction alone cannot match.
Methodology and Context
Meketa's investment research team synthesizes public program data, industry supply and demand statistics, and comparative NOI and occupancy performance across the affordable and market rate segments. The whitepaper uses Meketa's research framework for real assets, applying it to the essential housing definition and drawing on program level data from LIHTC, Section 8, and related affordability subsidies to characterize the opportunity.
