Population and demographic trends like reduced home ownership and millennials delaying marriage and children create long-term structural advantages for multifamily that other sectors lack. A recent article on GlobeSt.com reveals Colliers International’s insights on these trends according to Senior EVP of Multifamily Investments Cindy H. Cooke and Will Mathews, VP and Principal for Colliers’ multifamily advisory group in the east region.

Read a few highlights below and the full article on GlobeSt.com.

As a result of urbanization and millennials’ propensity for renting over buying, multifamily occupancy rates are near a historical high. While he does expect them to level off, the multifamily market will remain fundamentally sound.

“Colliers research shows that cap rates for apartments averaged 5.4% in Q3, the lowest of any property type, which reflects the high regard the sector is held in by investors, particularly foreign investors who are willing to pay for stable cash flows.”

Rent growth has moved much faster than household income in recent years, which means renters are paying an increasing share of their income on rents. There is a limit to how much renters can bear and some of the more expensive markets are starting to inch closer to that limit. But while the rate of multifamily growth is expected to slow, there remains a lot of upside, he says.

“We believe supply-demand fundamentals and capital-market forces will remain favorable for some time. Recent housing trends have created a positive perfect storm for the multifamily sector, which was the first to recover after the recession and the first to reach new peaks during the expansion,” he says. “There are a bunch of things working in favor of multifamily sector.”

A broad trend working in multifamily’s favor is that home ownership rates have fallen. Those figures peaked even before the housing crisis peaked in the 2000s and have been coming down steadily since.

“They’ve gone down substantially and consistently,” he says. “Some people expected home ownership rates to hit bottom and start to rise again, but there’s been no indication that that the current trend will reverse or plateau.”

Cooke tells GlobeSt.com the cultural shift from single-family ownership to renting that has occurred this cycle is expected to continue. “The ease and convenience of renting versus ownership is the new lifestyle that is attracting a large portion of the population,” she says. “This live, work and play mentality has created more renters by choice versus by need. From millennials to professionals to retirees, all are embracing this new lifestyle.”

All the gains in occupancy housing since the recession have been among renters. “The number of owner/occupied units is about 2% less than it was at the end of the recession. Meanwhile, the gain in renter-occupied units is up 20%—that’s quite a dramatic difference in those patterns,” he says.

And Mathews says demand continues to outpace supply in all but a small minority of markets nationally.

“The line of demarcation when judging whether a marketplace is under-built or over-built is five new jobs compared to one permitted multifamily unit. The only top-20 city below the five-to-one ratio is Houston, which proves a significant majority of the country is well positioned for sustainable staying power.”

This cycle is additionally prolonged by favorable employment growth coupled with a lack of new supply due to government regulations, Mathews adds. “These factors have created an insulated marketplace. Because of the regulatory burden Dodd-Frank has placed on banks requiring them to hold significantly more capital on their balance sheets as a means of mitigating potential risk, other lenders such as mortgage REITs, private equity and life-insurance companies are seeking to fill the void.”

Millennials overall are dealing with a few things that favor renters. First, as a result of the plunge caused by the housing crisis, which hit the budgets and wealth of a lot of households, many millennials are no longer able to afford a down payment or have the credit to be able to get a mortgage. In addition, some millennials have student debt, so this is especially true for them, and with prices rising, they can’t get on the ladder. Second, as a result of the housing crisis, a lot of people were turned off by the idea of investing in a home.

Not everybody feels this way, but says it just takes a few percent of people to make that kind of assessment and it has a huge implication for the housing markets. Third, the way millennials are living—going to school longer, deferring marriage, having families later—they prefer to live in a more urbanized kind of environment, a live/work/play environment that favors renting not only in CBDs, but in more-dynamic suburbs, too.

Cap rates for multifamily are about the lowest overall among the property sectors now, and that’s in part because growth prospects have been so strong.

We’re finally getting more of a supply response, with apartment construction ramping up in major markets especially. This development is much needed. “We have a great need for more housing that has not kept up with the population growth,” he says. “It’s good we’re getting more units coming online. We’re starting to see vacancy rates rise overall and rent growth start to moderate as a result. But looking out over the next few years, based on permit data, supply will increase at a more moderate pace, demand will keep increasing and population growth and lifestyle changes will continue to favor renters, so we will see vacancy rates begin to decline again a few years out. We will also see similar trends in cap rates.”

To read the full version of this article, visit GlobeSt.com.