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Nov. 29, 2012

Business Plan

By Jessica Fiur, News Editor

Steadfast Income REIT is sponsored by Steadfast REIT Investments LLC, an affiliate of Steadfast Companies. Founded in 1994, Steadfast Companies has evolved into a vertically integrated, multifaceted real estate owner, operator and manager with senior real estate professionals who average over 30 years of investment experience. Steadfast Companies has acquired, developed and managed in excess of $2.6 billion of real estate, including over 20,000 apartment units and more than 5.2 million square feet of industrial, office and retail space. Today Steadfast Companies owns and/or operates a diverse portfolio valued at approximately $1.5 billion and comprising over 100 properties across the United States and Mexico. Ella Shaw Neyland was recently promoted to president of Steadfast Income REIT Inc. MHN News Editor Jessica Fiur talked to Neyland about her new position and her views on the apartment market.



What are some of the trends you see impacting apartment REITs?



I also want a big consumer demand. Look at the iPhones—more people want your product than you have in supply. On the demand side, the Steadfast business plan means that our apartment rents, which are in the low $900’s a month, are below the average apartment rent in America. That also means my residents can make between $30,000 a year and $75,000 a year—which is most of America—and they can afford a Steadfast apartment. My demand pool of people is a lot larger than luxury apartments where people pay $2,500 a month. That’s just a result of our sluggish economy. But there is job growth in transportation, manufacturing, healthcare and the services industry, and that resident group finds the Steadfast apartment close to where they work. From a location standpoint, we deliver value to them. I see our segment as having a lot of potential for growth in the next few years.

How is Steadfast tapping into the Echo Boomer demographic?

Echo boomers are seeing their parents lose their homes and their equity. They’re saying, “Maybe owning a home isn’t what it’s supposed to be.” There was a recent study by economists that saw a correlation between cities that have high home ownership and high unemployment, and that goes to what I believe—that home ownership is dragging down job growth. We’ve got to get job growth to stimulate the economy. I think that as people choose apartment living, it will give them the ability to move for jobs.


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