The Nation's 50 Largest Apartment Owners And 50 Largest

A special Supplement to national real estate investorthe nation’s apartments, a little lower than last year’s recordsetting15.7 percent. The top ten firms saw their share growto 7.0 percent, from 6.9 percent in 2008. This was the highestshare for the ten largest managers since 2003. Back then,however, the management list was more heavily dominated byowner-managers. In 2003, the top 15 firms also appeared onthe NMHC 50 owners list; in 2009, only ten of the top 15 firmswere among the top 50 owners.Apartment Management (by tier in thousands)3,0002,5002,0001,5001,000500’90 ’91 ’92 ’93 ’94 ’95 ’96 ’97 ’98 ’99 ’00 ’01 ’02 ’03 ’04 ’05 ’06 ’07 ’08 ’09top 10 top 25 top 50SPECIALISTSMany firms appear on both the NMHC 50 ownership andmanagement lists, but each list includes 17 firms that do notappear on the other. In some cases, these companies both ownand manage apartments, but they tend to specialize in one orthe other, so they make the threshold for entry either as managersor owners, but not both.Some specialists are among the largest firms. Three of thetop five owners—and five of the top eight—do not appear inthe management rankings. On the management side, three ofthe top 10 firms do not show up on the ownership list.Two firms that appear at the top of the rankings for bothowners and managers have far more units under managementthan under ownership. American Management Services (dbaPinnacle) manages 106,371 more apartments than it owns,while Lincoln Property has 82,886 more units under managementthan in its ownership portfolio.Largest Firms Appearing on Ownership List Only:MMA Financial, LLCBoston CapitalSunAmerica Affordable Housing Partners, Inc.National Equity Fund, Inc.Enterprise Community Investment, Inc.Largest Firms Appearing on Management List Only:Riverstone Residential Group, A CAS Partners CompanyGreystar Real Estate Partners, LLCWinnCompaniesFPI ManagementAlliance Residential CompanyMethodologyTo compile the NMHC 50 lists, the National Multi Housing Councilstaff gathers names of owners and managers from as wide a range ofsources as possible and contacts staff from each firm who completethe survey online. Over the years, improved outreach and increasedpublicity associated with the rankings has resulted in more firmsresponding to the survey.For the purposes of this survey, investment fund managersare treated as owners only if they retain substantial equity in theapartment property or if they maintain effective responsibility anddecision-making over the investment property. Similarly, tax creditsyndicators and franchisers are regarded as owners only if theyretain a fiduciary responsibility. (When firms function strictly asadvisers rather than investors, they are not regarded as owners.)The rankings do not distinguish between partial and full ownership.Some firms own sizable apartment properties through jointventures in which their share could range anywhere from 1 to 99percent. Others are primarily the sole owners of their apartments. Inprinciple, it would be desirable to account for partial ownership—treating 50 percent ownership of 100 apartments as equivalent to fullownership of 50 units, for example. In practice, it is not feasible tomake such distinctions.The survey excludes condominiums, cooperatives, hotel rooms,nursing homes, hospital rooms, mobile homes and houses withrental units. Rental housing for seniors (age-restricted apartments)is included, although assisted living and congregate care facilities arenot. Finally, since we measure industry concentration by comparingthe top 50 owners and managers against the nation’s entire apartmentstock, only U.S. apartments are included.Occasionally, a firm may debut on the NMHC 50 at a highlevel. Generally, this means the firm is responding to the surveyfor the first time, rather than an indication of an outsized portfoliogain—although that, too, happens on occasion. Nonetheless, despitemany improvements and everyone’s best efforts, the process remainsimperfect: it relies on both accurate reporting and surveying of thecomplete universe, both of which can be fraught with problems. Inparticular, a number of firms in recent years have either chosen notto respond or have policies that prohibit them from supplying thekind of information needed for establishing these rankings. Theinclusion of firms that did not respond in previous years, as well asthe withdrawal of some firms from participation after making therankings in the past, make year-to-year comparisons difficult.APRIL 2009 NMHC 50 13