Yardi, Axio, REIS, etc. What do you use?
This is more directed towards those that focus on MF, specifically in CA or a top 50 MSA. Our firm is currently using Axio-Metrics and Yardi (formerly Pierce-Eislen) and have subscriptions to the LA market. We have used them for floor plan level comps, rental trends, and general market data.
My issue is that Yardi is only 50+ units, and Axio is as well. Axio has only been doing 50+ unit structures for about 2-3 years now, prior they focused solely on 100+ unit buildings. I was put in charge of testing out REIS for the firm and was a big fan as they pull property level information for buildings larger than 20+ units. I find this to be useful as I can get a larger data set for comps, and can back up my arguments better.
With that being said, who uses what? Why do you prefer it? Is there another service that I did not list that is similar?
My shop uses Axio, and we're generally pretty pleased with the data quality. It is leaps and bounds better than pierce and their research is pretty solid as well. That being said, the big reason we do that is because the data is consistent across all of our markets 15-20+ so it is nice to have uniform data. Your best bet for the data you are after is probably a local provider who covers a smaller market, but covers it better. REIS is good, but I don't think I would ever use them for rent comps, mainly because they don't have square footages for individual floorplans, they don't break out individual floorplans beyond the number of bedrooms, and I have no idea how often their data is updated (this is huge for me because I don't want to call 10 properties to update after pulling info from REIS). That's my two cents that and $3 bucks will get you a cup of coffee.
We use CoStar and have found the data much more accurate than REIS. CoStar also has good sales comp info with details directly from brokers.
Our firm uses REIS and also RealFacts. RealFacts primarily focuses on 95+ units with property profiles, market overviews, ownership info, etc. of specific cities and counties. We don't use the rent comp feature as much but heavily rely on their rental and occupancy trends.
Axio is much better than REIS for MF, imo.
Count_Chocula CRE GLCRE I agree that Axio has great information on a property level (unit layout, square footage, concessions, etc.) but on a recent demo presented by REIS they had notified me that they now provide all that information, and it is updated on a monthly basis. I'm not sure how often Axio is updated, and I know that Yardi is done about 3 times a year. Yardi also has layouts on a unit to unit basis, along with tenant utility responsibilities, parking, amenities, unique property characteristics, etc.
I've surprisingly been using Yardi more than Axio, but I guess I'll give Axio another shot.
I've used both REIS and Axio, and I prefer Axio. REIS is a little easier to figure out, but imo Axio has more data, especially on comps. I find the CPS subject reports particularly useful. I haven't used REIS in about a year, so I can't speak for any updates to their system.
As others have said, I find Axio is the best for MF. CoStar/PPR is good as well, but mainly in a directional sense. I would certainly not use their rent comps for u/w as they typically off by a good amount, in my experience (up to a few hundred per unit in the pricier metros).
REIS has some interesting details when you dig around in the reports but the downside is they don't necessarily add value from a strategic perspective ala PPR/Costar.
REIS doesn't seem to handle "new" sub-markets very well either. So if downtown "Chicago" is getting 5K new units but there is only a base of 5K existing units, REIS will project really high vacancies going out five years because the sub-market has no history of large amounts of absorption. It's stupid but check out some up and coming sub-markets in REIS and you'll see that again and again.
I've never had Axio or Yardi so I can't comment on those two but I'd take PPR/Costar over REIS any day for MF.
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