We track funding rounds, acquisitions, product launches, partnerships, policy and market data across multifamily, rental housing and proptech in the US and Canada. This page is updated several times a day, newest stories first, and every story links to its original source.
Representatives Maxwell Alejandro Frost, Gabe Vasquez and Rashida Tlaib sent Brookfield a letter on Oct. 13 about its acquisition of Yes Communities, a manufactured housing portfolio of 294 communities in 23 states bought from Singapore's GIC, Bisnow reported. The lawmakers cited tenant complaints about rent increases, fees and maintenance, and asked Brookfield to disclose whether it plans annual rent increases above 3%, explain its fee policies and commit to avoiding serial eviction filings. The letter asked Brookfield to respond by Nov. 20, and Frost's office said it had not replied as of mid-November. The purchase price has not been disclosed.
Unitholders of Canada's H&R REIT rejected a plan to break up the trust, under which GO Residential REIT would have taken its U.S. apartment portfolio and a consortium including Blackstone and PSP Investments would have bought some industrial assets, Bisnow reported. Opposition focused on a part of the deal that would have sold assets with an accounting value of about C$1.98 billion to CRAL, a company controlled by family members of CEO Tom Hofstedter, and five pension funds including CalSTRS had said they would vote against it. H&R will remain public, keep selling assets, replace up to four directors and drop its planned purchase of a 70% stake in two Lantower developments.
California nonprofit EAH Housing has signed agreements to acquire 19 properties with more than 1,000 affordable homes from Catholic Charities of Oregon, covering family, senior and supportive housing in the Portland area, Eugene, Sandy and Happy Valley, Multifamily Dive reported. Closings are scheduled to roll through the second quarter of 2027, and the price was not disclosed. Catholic Charities will continue to provide resident services, and Guardian Real Estate Services will stay on as property manager.
Cosign sued TheGuarantors in federal court in Delaware on Nov. 12, alleging it holds at least 66% of a national market for rental approval services through exclusive dealing arrangements with landlords, Bloomberg Law reported. The claims are allegations and have not been tested in court. The suit follows a case TheGuarantors filed against Cosign in Georgia in October, alleging that Cosign operates as an unlicensed insurer.
Perennial Housing Group, a new affordable housing owner-operator based in Alpharetta, Georgia, launched with the acquisition of 31 properties totaling almost 4,000 apartments in 10 states across the Southeast and Midwest, the company announced Nov. 13. It said 97% of the properties have long-term project-based Section 8 contracts and that the platform is backed by unnamed institutional capital, with a goal of more than $1 billion in asset value over the next few years. CEO Gregory B. Jones, formerly CEO of Infinity Real Estate Management, leads the company, and the seller and price were not disclosed.
Illinois Public Act 104-0479 amends the state's Landlord and Tenant Act for leases and renewals entered into after it takes effect on Jan. 1, 2027, law firm Clark Hill reported. All non-optional fees must appear on the first page of the lease or tenants are not liable for them, listings must disclose mandatory fees and whether utilities are included, and application fees including background checks are capped at $50 with limited exceptions. The law bans fees for renewals, eviction notices or filings before a court order, routine or after-hours maintenance, maintenance hotlines, pest control not caused by the tenant and move-in or move-out walkthroughs, while owner-occupied buildings with six or fewer units are exempt.
Build-to-rent units under construction fell 18.5% year over year in the third quarter, completions fell 40.2% and community sales volume dropped 51.5%, according to National Apartment Association data cited by HousingWire. Executives including QuinnResidences CEO Richard Ross and Amherst CEO Sean Dobson said capital has not fully returned after the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, even though the final law carved build-to-rent out of its institutional investor ban. They pointed to Treasury's October proposed rules, including an 18-month purchase window from certificate of occupancy that Ross called too short, and to the possibility of further federal or state ownership limits. NAA's Owen Caine said he expects bipartisan resistance to new restrictions.
An analysis of 7,597 securitized apartment loans by CRED iQ found median occupancy flat at 94% from a year earlier, with revenue up 1.0%, expenses up 2.5% and net operating income down 0.2%, CRE Daily reported. Revenue fell in 29 of 69 metros, led by Denver and Austin, where NOI dropped 11.8% and 10.8% and the number of loans below 1.0x debt service coverage roughly doubled. Concessions appeared in 6.8% of October 2026 Freddie Mac watchlist servicer comments, up from 3.8% a year earlier, covering 294 loans worth $6.3 billion.
Envoy Technologies has launched managed electric car sharing at Blume on 16th, a 325-bed student housing community near Ohio State University in Columbus, its first location in the Midwest and first project with Chicago-based Up Campus Properties, the company announced Nov. 13. Residents can book a Tesla Model 3 by the hour or day through the Envoy app, with Envoy covering insurance, maintenance and charging. Envoy is based in Los Angeles and is owned by Nasdaq-listed Dot Ai.
EfficientIP's research lab identified a campaign using fake Zillow apartment-review pages that tell visitors to paste and run a command as part of a phony verification check, which installs the NetSupport remote access tool on their computers, Help Net Security reported. The lure sites used domains named apartments-review plus a string of digits on the .sbs domain, and EfficientIP first detected them in August 2026. Researchers believe the links are most likely sent through rental scams by fake landlords or agents, though that has not been confirmed.
Self-guided apartment touring provider Tour24 announced an investment and recapitalization led by Dallas-based Mirasol Capital on Nov. 12, without disclosing the amount. Steve Winn, founder of RealPage and Mirasol, becomes executive chairman, and Eric Broughton, a co-founder of ApartmentJet who has held roles at RealPage, Expedia and Inhabit, takes over as CEO from founder Georgianna Oliver, who is retiring. The company said it will put the funding toward product reliability, faster activation, customer service and expansion across multifamily portfolios.
Insurance for Houston apartments built before 1980 costs nearly twice as much as for newer local properties and about 1.4 times the national average for buildings of the same age, according to Advocate Technologies data reported by Bisnow. Insurance takes about 7% of gross rent at pre-1980 buildings, compared with 3.7% for those built since 2000. Only 48 carriers wrote Houston multifamily property policies over two years, versus 482 nationally, and the National Apartment Association has reported a 57.3% rise in Houston multifamily insurance prices from 2021 to 2024.
Omaha-based Dial Senior Living has acquired The Waters Senior Living of Minnetonka, Minnesota, Seniors Housing Business reported. Dial operated 28 communities in Nebraska, Iowa, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri and Illinois, and The Waters added 11 in Minnesota and Wisconsin, for a combined 39 communities in eight states. Terms were not disclosed, and Dial President Ted Lowndes said the company will pursue new management opportunities through partnerships.
Compass has asked a federal court in Manhattan to dismiss an amended antitrust complaint alleging that its acquisitions created a monopoly and that pulling its rental listings from StreetEasy in August raised rents and broker fees, HousingWire reported. Compass argues the plaintiffs confuse the sales and rental markets, that it does not own rentals or set rents, and that New York's FARE Act explains the drop in visible rental inventory. It is seeking dismissal with prejudice and a stay of discovery, and the plaintiff's response is due Dec. 8.
Vacancy across purpose-built rentals in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, including buildings still in lease-up, rose to 13.3% in the third quarter from 12.1% a year earlier, according to Urbanation data reported by Better Dwelling. A record 2,704 units were completed in the quarter while occupied units grew by 1,911, though stabilized vacancy fell to 3.0% from 5.4%. Rents net of incentives were 1.5% lower than a year earlier, and 60% of projects offered incentives, down from 67% in the second quarter.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani signed the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act, which requires owners of certain multifamily buildings to notify the city before a sale and gives eligible nonprofits a right of first refusal, Propmodo reported. The law takes effect in November 2027 and covers about 2,100 buildings, including distressed properties with four or more units and smaller buildings with affordability restrictions, down from 10,000 in the original proposal. Eligible nonprofits get 20 days to submit a statement of interest and 70 days to make an initial offer, and they keep their right of first refusal if a private buyer makes a competing bid. Critics quoted by Propmodo say the process adds delays without improving deal economics, while lead sponsor Council Member Sandy Nurse says it helps preserve existing housing.
U.S. multifamily asking rents rose 0.1% from September to October, the first October increase since 2022, according to a Yardi Matrix report covered by Multifamily Dive. Year-over-year rent growth reached 1.4%, the fastest pace in more than three years, with gains in 14 of Yardi Matrix's top 30 markets. San Francisco led with 8.2% annual growth, followed by Chicago at 4.8% and New York at 3.6%, while Austin, Houston and Nashville posted the largest declines. National stabilized occupancy was 94.3%, flat from September and down 0.2% from a year earlier.
A Rently survey of 800 U.S. renters conducted on Pollfish in October found that 32% of those using three or more rental-related apps had considered not renewing because of technology, compared with 23% of those using one or two. Renters with three or more apps were also more likely to report giving up on a home-related task (36% vs. 23%) and being locked out by failed entry technology (33% vs. 22%). Overall, 88% said they want at least some services combined in one app, while 59% said technology has made renting easier.
Yardi and Houston-based energy marketplace Gatby announced Nov. 12 that Gatby is now built into RentCafe applicant and resident portals as a step on the move-in checklist, as part of Yardi's Renter Essentials. Unit and move-in details fill in automatically, residents who can choose a provider can compare plans while others are guided through starting or transferring service with the local utility, and proof of enrollment is written to the resident record in Yardi Voyager. The feature is rolling out now to Yardi clients through RentCafe.
Zillow and leasing CRM provider Funnel have partnered so renters can book tours and start a property manager's Funnel application directly from Zillow listings at participating Funnel-integrated properties, with the application pre-filled from information already given to Zillow, Online Marketplaces reported. Funnel sends tour and application status back to Zillow so renters see one view across properties, while managers keep their existing Funnel tools. Zillow research cited in the report found 41% of recent renters used five to nine sites or apps to find a home, up from 35% in 2025.
Demand for single-family rentals on Zillow rose 24.3% year over year, roughly double the 12.1% increase for multifamily, as overall rental demand climbed 22.1%, Zillow reported Nov. 12. October asking rents were $2,243 a month for single-family homes, up 3.2%, and $1,744 for multifamily units, up 2.5%. Zillow estimates a household that can afford to rent a house would need $14,408 more in annual income to buy one, the widest gap since early 2025, and the largest demand gains were in San Jose, San Francisco and Austin.
Occupancy at single-family build-to-rent communities of 50 or more homes held at 94.9% in October, unchanged from September and up 10 basis points from a year earlier, according to Yardi Matrix data reported by CRE Daily. The average asking rent was $2,247, down $4 from September and up 1.1% year over year. Renter-by-necessity communities ran at 96.9% occupancy with 2.6% rent growth, compared with 94.6% and 0.8% for lifestyle communities, and Miami led rent growth at 5.6% while San Antonio fell 5.5%.
The Senate advanced the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026 in a 73-25 procedural vote, setting it up for further debate, Multifamily Dive reported. The bill focuses mainly on energy and infrastructure, but it would exempt many HUD- and USDA-supported housing projects from federal historic preservation reviews and generally limit them to streamlined environmental reviews, affecting about $10 billion a year in programs such as CDBG and HOME. It would also streamline Clean Water Act reviews, which the outlet said could cut costs by up to about $425,000 per project. The National Apartment Association, the National Association of Home Builders and YIMBY Action have backed the housing provisions.
Chula Vista's City Council approved a request on Oct. 27 from Councilmember Michael Inzunza for staff to review parts of the city's 2022 Tenant Protection Ordinance that could delay the removal of tenants involved in serious misconduct, KPBS reported. The request followed an October fight at the Casa Lago apartments in Eastlake that led to six arrests. Possible changes are expected to return to the council by late January, while the city attorney said evictions themselves fall under state jurisdiction.
The delinquency rate for multifamily loans in commercial mortgage-backed securities rose 5 basis points to 8.09%, the highest level since December 2015, according to Trepp data reported by Multifamily Dive. The multifamily special servicing rate climbed 68 basis points to 9.22%, driven largely by the $210 million loan on the 283-unit Cove at Tiburon in California, which went unpaid after its extended maturity in October. Freddie Mac K-Series delinquency rose to 0.96% from 0.8% in September.
Bilt introduced Bilt Neighborhood OS, an AI platform and commerce network that lets local businesses reach nearby residents, run loyalty programs and use AI agents for reservations, customer messages and marketing, the company announced on Nov. 10. Bilt says its platform reaches about one in four U.S. apartment buildings and has more than 8 million members, and that its agents completed more than 2 million actions across 29,000 businesses in the past 30 days. Housing partners named in the announcement include Avenue5 Residential, RPM Living, Windsor Communities and Related Companies. Integrations are rolling out in phases, with additional membership launches starting in 2027.
RealPage is integrating its Livble flexible payment product directly into Bilt, expanding a partnership the companies began in January 2024, according to a Nov. 10 announcement. Approved residents can split rent into two to four installments within the same rental period for a flat fee while still earning Bilt Points on eligible payments, and the service is optional month to month with no revolving credit. Livble is live through Bilt across nearly 1 million homes, with further expansion targeted for 2027.
Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust recorded about $496.7 million in third-quarter impairments, up from $27.4 million a year earlier, covering 13 rental housing properties, one office building and some single-family rentals, Propmodo reported. During the quarter the nontraded REIT sold 65 rental housing properties, nine industrial assets and one office building for about $2 billion, realizing a $366.1 million gain. It also deployed $3.4 billion into preleased data center developments through QTS, and data centers now account for 29% of its real estate value, compared with a 17% multifamily weighting.
The National Apartment Association's third-quarter Apartment Market Pulse shows about 305,000 units absorbed over the past year against about 318,000 completions, leaving supply ahead of demand by roughly 13,200 units, down from about 68,500 in the second quarter, Building Design + Construction reported. Average effective rent was $1,915, up 1.9% year over year, and occupancy was 95.4%, down 10 basis points from the prior quarter. Sales volume reached $32.9 billion, up 30.8% from the second quarter but down 10.5% from a year earlier.
Preliminary September occupancy across 200 university markets tracked by Yardi Matrix was 94.5%, level with a year earlier, but fall occupancy is projected to finish below 2025, Building Design + Construction reported. More than 31,000 off-campus bedrooms were delivered in 2026, up 20% from 2025, and properties delivered this year averaged 84.1% occupancy in September. Average advertised rent was $928 per bedroom, up 1.6% year over year, while the 10 markets with the most new supply saw occupancy fall 300 basis points to 92.8% and rents decline 1.2%.
