Affordable Rental Housing

Each state housing finance agency’s Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP) establishes its own requirements in terms of market feasibility studies. QAPs vary in terms of types of data and analyses required, methodologies to be utilized, and presentation format. In conducting these studies, RPRG carefully addresses the requirements of the state in which the project is to be located. RPRG prepares market feasibility studies addressing general occupancy, age restricted, mixed income and special needs tax affordable communities using nine percent or four percent tax credits.

End Users:

• Tax Credit Developers: RPRG works with tax credit developers to help tailor their rental communities to the market and assess demand for their products. Often, we conduct in two phases – a product position analysis followed by a market feasibility analysis. RPRG also assists developers in creating strategies for repositioning properties with expiring tax credits.
• State Housing Finance Agencies: RPRG works with state housing finance agencies that retain market analysts to evaluate proposed projects for which Low Income Housing Tax Credits are sought.
• Local Agencies: As they reposition their assets to become more self-supporting, RPRG works with local housing and economic development agencies to help identify opportunities to develop appropriate tax credit and mixed-income housing.

Market Rate Rental Housing

RPRG prepares comprehensive feasibility studies for submission to HUD offices for mortgage insurance under the National Housing Act, Sections 220, 221(d)(3), 221(d)(4),231, 223(a)(7) and 223(f). These studies meet the HUD Multifamily Accelerate Processing (MAP) guidelines and cover a variety of rental housing types including market rate and affordable housing, general occupancy and seniors housing, and mixed use developments. RPRG has submitted market studies to each of the new HUD regional MAP offices under the agency’s recently implemented transformation. The firm was also instrumental in assisting HUD in writing their new market study guidelines under Chapter 7 of the MAP guidebook.

Rental Community Types:

• Luxury high-rises with extensive amenity and feature packages
• Mixed-Use Developments including retail and/or office components
• Substantial rehabilitation of existing rental communities
• Garden apartments with and without structured parking

• Senior market-rate rental communities (SMRRCs)
• Rental townhouse communities
• Adaptive reuses of non-residential buildings to residential and/or mixed uses
• “Big House” communities with individual entries and integral garages

Senior Housing

Housing addressing the growing and changing demands of older householders is a rapidly expanding and evolving product in today’s market. RPRG has extensive experience with for-sale, rental-housing products addressing this market segment. We also study service enriched and assisted living communities. Studies are designed to support land acquisition, product positioning, and product and pricing decision-making. We also work extensively with lenders active in age-qualified housing, including FHA lending.

A niche product within this market segment that is rapidly attracting more attention from developers and lenders alike is the senior market-rate rental community (SMRRC). Unlike traditional congregate and independent living communities featuring supportive services, such as meals and housekeeping, the SMRRC targets a mature, active, healthy adult motivated by lifestyle considerations rather than need-driven behavior. In the current economy, the primary source for financing for these communities is FHA. We have extensive experience conducting market analyses of proposed SMRRCs for FHA lenders around the country and developers seeking financing for such projects under both the Section 221(d)(4) and Section 231 programs.

Commercial and Mixed-Use

RPRG conducts market analyses for a variety of commercial land uses, including shopping centers, specialty retail centers, general purpose and medical office space, self-storage facilities, fitness clubs, and warehouse facilities. In many instances, we assess the outlook for proposed commercial space as a component of large-scale mixed-use developments including transit-oriented communities. These interesting and complex projects often involve the redevelopment of blocks in downtown and near downtown areas. Consideration of the extent of market support attributable to various sources of demand – downtown workers, residents, visitors, and students – can be an integral part of such studies.

Economic Analysis

RPRG documents community and economic impact for developers, investors and lenders for a variety of projects, including those utilizing New Markets Tax Credits. In addition to estimating job and income growth resulting from a NMTC project, RPRG measures the fiscal impact on local government, the social impact on residents in surrounding neighborhoods and the “green” impact on the local environment. RPRG can study the community impact at various stages, including assessing the community impact of a portfolio or pipeline for a CDFI application, measuring how a project meets the business goals of a CDE, or tracking the progress of a completed project post construction.