NMHC Releases 2022 Rankings

The National Multifamily Housing Council has released its annual multifamily rankings, covering top owners and developers to managers and syndicators. Multifamily.Today took a peek at the top of each list to see what's changed from last year's rankings.

Top Owner - Starwood Capital Group

Jumping from third to first place, Starwood increased its portfolio to 115,056 multifamily units as of January 1, 2022, a 28.8% increase from its size at the start of last year. Headed by Chairman & CEO Barry Sternlicht, the Miami-based investment firm focuses on a wide variety of commercial real estate as well as oil, gas, and energy infrastructure investments. MAA, last year's top-ranked owner, lost its position following a very slight decrease in portfolio size, dropping from 100,490 to 100,002 units during the span of the year.

Largest Apartment Manager - Greystar Real Estate Partners

Greystar has for years been recognized as one of the largest — if not the largest — multifamily property management companies around. And this year, the firm is named to the top of the list yet again, and it's no surprise: Its 698,257 units under management set it magnitudes above Lincoln Property Co., which came in second place with its massive, 210,086-unit portfolio.

Largest Builder - Greystar Real Estate Partners

Greystar grabs its second pole position in a single year, landing at the top of the pack for construction starts in 2021. The owner-developer started work on 11,301 units in 2021, barely edging out Alliance Residential, in second place with 11,266. This year's shift is a large one for the Charleston, S.C.-based company, which landed in sixth place last year with 5,298 units started. Greystar's construction activity has been largely focused in the high-demand Sun Belt region, though the firm also operates in the Northeast and the Pacific Northwest.

Largest Developer - Greystar Real Estate Partners

Once again, Greystar makes it to the top, with 14,047 units starting development last year. In 2020, despite having a significantly lower unit count under development — 8,525 — that was still enough to place it at the top of the list, owing to the pandemic's impact on development activity across the country. Alliance Residential took second place this year, with 11,739 units started in 2021, followed by Mill Creek Residential and Wood Partners with a respective 7,283 and 7,242 units. These other three developers also retained their positions from last year.

Largest Apartment Syndicator - Boston Financial Investment Management

There are a lot of big players involved in apartment syndication, or the pooling of different investors' resources to acquire multifamily properties. NMHC's largest syndicator this year is Boston Financial, which boasted a portfolio size of 179,930 units, down a bit from the 186,785 units reported the year before — when it also took the top prize. Rounding out the top three were Raymond James Affordable Housing Investments, with 141,458 units, and PNC Real Estate, boasting 140,627 units in its portfolio at the start of 2022.

The full rankings are available on the National Multifamily Housing Council's website.