News

The Montana Board of Housing (MBOH) will be hosting its annual Low Income Housing Tax Credit Compliance Training September 13-14, 2012.

The Arizona Department of Housing (ADOH) has made a change to its Compliance Training requirements, as outlined in the 2012 Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP), for participants in the LIHTC program.

Minnesota Housing’s Multifamily Division has restructured the program compliance department by merging the Housing Tax Credit, HOME, and deferred loan monitoring staff into one consolidated compliance team.

New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR) has announced the availability of its latest round of funding for the Low-Income Housing Credit (LIHC), Housing Trust Fund (HTF), HOME Program, and State Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program (SLIHC).

The Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) announced the submission deadline for its first round of competitive funding for 2013 Low Income Housing Tax Credits as August 15, 2012 at 5:00 p.m.

The Colorado Housing and Finance Authority (CHFA) will be hosting two public hearings to receive input from the public for developing its QAP for 2013.

The Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA) released a draft of its 2013 Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP). Notably, PHFA plans to accept applications in two cycles.

The National Council of Housing Market Analysts (NCHMA) has adopted a new white paper that offers guidance and methodologies for providing a functional scope of work as a component of multifamily rental housing market studies.

The National Council of Housing Market Analysts (NCHMA) has separate definitions of overall market demand and project specific demand Market demand is the total number of households in a defined market area that would potentially move into any new or renovated housing units. Market demand is not project specific and covers all renter households and income levels. Components of demand vary and can include household growth; turnover, substandard dwelling units, rent over-burdened households, and demolished housing units.

Several important differences between rural and urban market studies include market area definitions, evaluation of comparables, and consideration of demand. On the surface, it seems like defining a rural market area might be purely a matter of opinion, but well-established analytic tools are available to assist market analysts. Evaluating comparables, understanding how the proposal would fit into the market, and understanding what the demand calculations really mean are more a matter of experience.

The definition of a market area sets the context and tone of the entire market study. While a somewhat subjective judgment, a market area’s size and density has a profound impact on an analysis in terms of understanding demographic trends, demand estimates and the competitive environment.

Comparable properties are used for several purposes within a market study. They are used to help evaluate the market, they are used to evaluate the subject’s position within a market, and they are used to determine market rents. The more similar the comparable properties are to the proposed property, the more reliable the conclusions that may be drawn. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the concepts involved in selecting comparable properties, and to identify some of the ways comparable properties are used in a study.