Dive Brief:

• Market-rate rentals remain popular among developers and builders, and they are less enthused about building low-rent units or units to sell, according to the most recent Multifamily Production Index from the National Association of Home Builders.
• The index uses a 0-100 scale, with 50 marking the divide between more optimistic and more pessimistic results of the survey, and market-rate rentals stood at 60.
• Low-rent and for-sale units were almost equally unpopular, at 47 and 46 on the scale, respectively, which put the overall index at a half-full, half-empty 50.

Dive Insight:

Part of the reason for confidence is another NAHB measure, the Multifamily Vacancy Index. It, too uses a 0-100 scale, but smaller numbers are better because they indicate lower reported vacancy rates around the country. The fourth-quarter MVI was 38. NAHB says the two indices together do well as leading indicators of what Census Bureau figures on construction spending will show one to three quarters later.