Multifamily Real Estate Market Research Data Source - Costar vs Axiometrics vs RCA vs ???

Hey all,

I've found a few other posts on here debating the different data sources available for multifamily, though it appears that the newest of all of them is over a year old and, given the rapid pace at which technology and companies change, I'd be interested in hearing what updates experience people are having today.

I work with a small REPE firm that acquires multifamily value-add property in the $10-50MM range. As part of our growth we've determined it to be valuable to find a more reliable, quick source of data rather than the tedious (though often most accurate) 'old fashioned' way of calling around, talking to brokers, property managers, etc. While no data source is perfect, we're most interested in finding a source that has reliable rent comps, sales data, and trend data at the submarket level. We want accurate property-level data and comps so we can both underwrite acquisition candidates and manage our existing portfolio, and also want market and submarket-level data so we can determine where and how to best allocate our capital yet to be deployed.

Here's what I've heard so far:

  1. RCA is the gold standard when it comes to Sales Data
  2. Costar was mediocre at multifamily, but has been improving significantly since acquiring apartments. com a few years ago.
  3. REIS is dying/uncompetitive.
  4. Axio and Costar are the two best sources in the space. No data source is perfect, but Axio likely gets its data from Realpage's other products (Onesite, Yieldstar and others); same goes for Costar (Apartments. com and the APIs people set up to post ads there).
  5. Axio has a partnership w/ RCA through 'Investment Analytics' to provide most of what RCA has to offer.
  6. Is there anyone else we should be considering? How reliable are you finding these sources to be? Cost differences?

Look forward to all your thoughts. Thanks!

 

Axio is very good but I have found is limited to larger deals over 50 units. The pricing information is generally accurate, I call to verify the data with leasing reps frequently and it is almost always correct. Their submarket rent growth projections are solid and we use them as our baseline for underwriting for most projects. Submarket trends, supply/demand analysis, etc. is also solid. Overall great resource.

 

I like REIS for their self-storage offerings, but I would say that there are typically smaller research shops in most big cities that do their own apartment surveys with more granular submarkets and better local knowledge.

The CityName Apartment Association can also be a good place to hit up for surveys if it is a smaller market, you may have to pay like $100 to join for a year, but it is usually the only real survey in sub 50k areas.

 

CoStar and REIS are good at different things. For office, CoStar all day. For apartments, reis is fantastic. Provides a large overview to get a feel for a market and has the ability to dive into the market in some respects. Usually, for everything you do, you will need to use multiple data sources to get what you want. I find CoStar, REIS, and CBRE-EA to be the most helpful.

 

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