Integra Realty Resources and the Lewis White Real Estate Center hosted the 12th Annual Integra Real Estate Conference at the Kansas City Convention Center last week, featuring an educational analysis on the current and future states of the real estate industry. The conference is a one-day seminar of real estate presentations and networking featuring panel discussions with Kansas City's industry leaders. The all-day event included six separate discussion panels, a cocktail reception and a keynote speech from Tom Hoenig, Vice President of the FDIC and Kansas City’s former chief executive of the Federal Reserve Bank.

Paul had the opportunity to participate in the multi family market panel, alongside Block Real Estate’s Aaron Mesmer, multi family real estate developer George Birt, and Steve Coon of ePartment Communities.

Apartment Renters are Evolving

A recurring thread in the panel discussions is the evolution of the apartment renter. From millennials to baby boomers, residents are demanding more amenities and greater convenience. Many properties are bulking up on features of all kinds, including free wi-fi, resident lounges, full size sports facilities, on-site pet parks, and even housekeeping for an additional fee. Class A and B properties have been offering more hotel-like services to stay competitive in the amenities race that is gradually appearing all over Kansas City apartment communities.

Partially due to the new trends that apartment renters are demanding, the perception of apartment living is evolving just as rapidly. The lifestyle of the millennial generation is pushing the understanding of who lives in an apartment home and why. The new ‘renter by choice’, as Aaron Mesmer put it, is modern, mobile and independent. As more individuals are choosing to postpone having their own families, their wants and demands are filling up apartments near high-density commercial areas.

New Class A Development to Continue Through 2015

Submarkets with new job growth are attracting a large number of multi family real estate developers, with projections to continue new apartments through 2015. This year the Kansas City Star was plastered with articles announcing new Class A and B apartments near the Northland, downtown, Johnson County, and the Kansas City Speedway. The general consensus is that the development is following the new jobs, and the closer the development is to college campuses and high-density retail and entertainment, the more likely they are to fill up quickly.

Some have questioned whether or not the national worry of multi family over-development will come to fruition in Kansas City, which expects an additional 20,000-40,000 apartment units within the next ten years. Experts don’t seem to be too concerned, however, stating that developers building in the Kansas City market are local to the region, and therefore understand the market’s balance of supply and demand intimately enough to prevent over-development. Kansas City is a secondary market with thinner margins than larger metropolitan cities, which protects it from foreign developers that may not necessarily consider the way new development affects Kansas City’s economy and real estate market.

The consensus of the panel discussion concluded that we can expect new class A development to continue through 2015, and the general population of apartment renters is steadily evolving. With the notable growth in new apartments, greater amenities and a larger, more diverse renter base, apartment living is associated more now with modern living than modest living. For more information on Integra Realty Resource’s real estate forecast, check out Viewpoint 2014.