Hardware Retailing The Industry's Source for Insights and Information
Confidence in the market for new multifamily housing decreased year over year in Q4 2025, according to the Multifamily Market Survey (MMS) released by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).
The Multifamily Production Index (MPI), one of the two indices produced by the MMS, had a reading of 45, down three points year over year, and the Multifamily Occupancy Index (MOI) had a reading of 74, down seven points year over year.
The MPI measures builder and developer sentiment about current production conditions in the apartment and condo market on a scale of 0 to 100, with scores below 50 indicating that more respondents report poor conditions than report good conditions.
The MPI is a weighted average of four key market segments: three in the built-for-rent market (garden/low-rise, mid/high-rise and subsidized) and one in the built-for-sale (or condominium) market. While the component measuring garden/low-rise increased two points to 54, the other three components were measured under 50 and declined year-over-year. The component measuring mid/high-rise units fell eight points to 31, the component measuring subsidized units decreased five points to 47 and the component measuring built-for-sale units decreased six points to 36.
The MOI measures the multifamily housing industry’s perception of occupancies in existing apartments on a scale of 0 to 100, with numbers above 50 indicating more respondents report that occupancy is good than report it is poor. The reading of 74 indicates existing apartment owners are positive about occupancy overall.
The MOI is a weighted average of three built-for-rent market segments (garden/low-rise, mid/high-rise and subsidized). Although all three components declined year-over-year, they all remained above the break-even point of 50. The component measuring garden/low-rise units decreased five points to 76, the component measuring mid/high-rise units fell 12 points to 62 and the component measuring subsidized units dipped three points to 88.
“Both the MPI and MOI in the fourth quarter indicated that the multifamily market is substantially stronger for garden and low-rise buildings than for mid- and high-rise,” says NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz. “This suggests that the 2025 trend of gains in multifamily market share for outlying metro and non-metro counties—where garden and low-rise structures are more common—is likely to continue in 2026.”
