Matt Birenbaum, chief investment officer at AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE: AVB), joined the REIT Report podcast to discuss the multifamily REIT’s development strategy, including the repurposing of outdated assets, as well as demand drivers in the build-to-rent segment, mixed-use development opportunities, and more.
Birenbaum touched on some of the major themes in the multifamily sector today, including the increase in migration to suburban locations and the desire for larger format housing on the part of millennials. That has led to increased demand for build-to-rent homes, an area that AvalonBay is increasing its focus on.
Birenbaum also noted that about a third of the REIT’s communities have a retail component. “When you get it right, the whole truly can be more than the sum of the parts. And for us, this is an area where I think we do have a competitive advantage being a REIT because we are building and owning these assets for the long term.”
Creating mixed-use development, particularly in infill locations, “is part of a bigger trend, which is absolutely about revitalization and reusing land and land uses that have really become out of date, bringing them back onto the tax rolls, and creating productive sites out of what had been kind of dead real estate,” he said. As a case in point, Birenbaum highlighted AvalonBay’s recently completed project in Montville, New Jersey.