GSU Library Research Guides: Real Estate: Apartment/Residential

Important Books

America's Top Rated Cities: A Statistical Handbook by Universal Reference Publications
Call Number: Ref. HT123 .A669
Provides economic and demographic data on cities with a population of 100,000 or more. Data includes city finances, demographics, economy, income, employment, taxes, commercial and residential real estate, commercial utilities, transportation, businesses, hotels and event sites. Also provides data on the living environment.
Book of Lists by Atlanta Business Chronicle
Call Number: Ref. HF3163.A8 A84
Locate the major employers in Atlanta.
Cities of the United States by Gale Research Inc.
Call Number: Ref. HT123 .C49677
This book provides profiles of 179 cities. Data provided includes major industries and commercial activities, incentive programs, development projects, labor force and employment outlook, cost of living, education, health care, and transportation.
Expense Analysis, Condominiums, Cooperatives, & Planned Unit Developments by Institute of Real Estate Management
Call Number: Ref. HD7287.67.U5 E96
Provides annual review of real estate trends for condominiums, cooperatives, and planned unit developments. Details average expenses for buildings in selected metropolitan areas, regionally, and nationally. Also provides analysis by building type, price and age.
Forecast of Georgia & Atlanta by Economic Forecasting Center, Georgia State University, College of Business Administration
Call Number: Ref. HB3730 .G432
Provides a quarterly economic overview of Georgia, Atlanta, and other significant MSAs in Georgia. Heavy emphasis on job growth, housing permits, and exports. Other issues addressed include small business development, healthcare, tax revenues, and industry trends.
Income/Expense Analysis. Conventional Apartments by Institute of Real Estate Management
Call Number: Ref. HF5686.A65 I562
Detailed analysis of financial operations for multi-family properties across the United States and Canada. Summarized by building type, the income and expense data for each sample is presented in dollars per square foot of rentable area and as percentage of gross possible income.
Survey of Buying Power by Bill Brothers Publications
Call Number: HC101 .S2
Data on population, income, and retail sales for states, cities, and metropolitan areas. GSU has copies going back to 1959.

Organizations, Associations, & Institutes

Each of the following organizations provide reports, data, and statistics related to residential real estate.

National Apartment Association
Access data on apartment construction markets, vacancy rates, apartment stock data, and metropolitan area apartment activity.
National Association of Home Builders
Extensive data on housing, building, and economics. Use the resources section and/or the publications section to locate information on building permits, housing sales and production, national and metro home builders forecasts, and other statistics.
National Association of Realtors (NAR)
Good source for real estate news and research. Research section includes access to economic indicators, housing statistics and an economic forecast. In addition the research section has brief reports on industry issues and consumer trends.
National Multi Housing Council
Provides research on apartment market conditions, resident demographics, apartment stock, apartment rents, new construction, ownership and management, and investment returns.
Reconnecting America
Reconnecting America is a national non-profit organization that is working to integrate transportation systems and the communities. Their website contains numerous reports that address issues related to housing and real estate.
Urban Land Institute (ULI)
Access news and resources that describe land usage and real estate trends. Most sources are fee based.
National Affordable Housing Management Association
The National Affordable Housing Management Association (NAHMA) is the leading voice for affordable housing, advocating on behalf of multifamily property managers and owners whose mission is to provide quality affordable housing.

Market Reports

Access information on real estate trends in a specific market (city).

Marcus Millichap
Registration is required to access free Research Reports that cover nearly every market sector of real estate, including apartment , office, retail, industrial, etc.
Radar Logic
Publishes in-depth research reports on the U.S. housing market, with detailed analyses for all metro areas. The Radar Logic Daily™ Price is a single, statistically accurate value representing the price per square foot paid for residential real estate in a defined Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) on any given day.
Red Capital Group
Commercial group that provides debt and equity capital, along with advisory services to the multifamily housing, seniors housing, and health care industries. General reports and others by region.

Atlanta/Georgia Residential Real Estate Resources

Book of Lists by Atlanta Business Chronicle
Call Number: Ref. HF3163.A8 A84
Locate the major employers in Atlanta.
Forecast of Georgia & Atlanta by Economic Forecasting Center, Georgia State University, College of Business Administration
Call Number: Ref. HB3730 .G432
Provides a quarterly economic overview of Georgia, Atlanta, and other significant MSAs in Georgia. Heavy emphasis on job growth, housing permits, and exports. Other issues addressed include small business development, healthcare, tax revenues, and industry trends.
Central Atlanta Progress
Provides a profile of downtown Atlanta that includes number of residential units available and demographic profile of the area.
GeorgiaFacts.net
Provides an interactive database of available buildings, a list of foreign based companies with operations in the state, links to existing Georgia industries and a host of other useful data.

Residential Statistics

Existing Home Sales
Produced by the National Association of Realtors. Provides statistics on sales and prices of existing single-family homes for the nation and the four regions. These figures include condos and co-ops, in addition to single-family homes.
Fair Market Rents – HUD
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) annually estimates FMRs for 530 metropolitan areas and 2,045 nonmetropolitan county FMR areas. FMRs are gross rent estimates. They include the shelter rent plus the cost of all tenant-paid utilities, except telephones, cable or satellite television service, and internet service.
House Price Index (HPI)
Developed by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the HPI is a broad measure of the movement of single-family house prices. The HPI is a weighted, repeat-sales index, meaning that it measures average price changes in repeat sales or refinancings on the same properties.
Housing Topics
Links to various housing information such as affordability and housing patterns from the US Census Bureau.
Manufactured Housing Statistics
From the US Census Bureau. Current and historical data on shipments, placements, dealer's inventory and average sales price for manufactured housing.
National Association of Realtors' Economic Indicators
NAR releases statistics on state-by-state existing-home sales and metropolitan area median home prices each quarter. This site also includes data on housing affordability, mortgage purchase applications, fixed rate mortgage rate and consumer confidence.
NETRonline.com
A commercial site that provides access to public records related to real estate. Limited information available for free. Provides a searchable database of foreclosed properties.
New Home Sales
From the US Census Bureau. Number sold, average sale price, and median sale price.
Real Estate Economics
Not free. Purchase extensive residential economic reports, new housing profile and statistics, building permit reports, and existing home sales reports.
Real Estate Research Corporation
Not free. A fee-based real estate research and valuation firm. Focuses on national real estate trends. Occassionally provides free access to the executive summary of its research reports.
Residential Energy Consumption Survey
From the Energy Information Administration. Survey describes; physical housing unit characteristics, types of appliances used, household demographics, and other information related to energy use.
Residential Improvements & Repairs Statistics
From the US Census Bureau. Discontinued as of 4th quarter 2007. Historical data available.
Standard & Poor's Case/Shiller index
Home Price Indices measures the residential housing market, tracking changes in the value of the residential real estate market in 20 metropolitan regions across the United States.
Vacancy Rates and Homeownership
From the US Census Bureau. Rental and homeowner vacancy rates and homeownership rates are available for the U.S., regions, States, and for the 75 largest Metropolitan Areas. The State and Metropolitan Area data are available annually, while national and regional data are available quarterly

Demographics

Social Explorer This link opens in a new window
This database provides access to current and historical census data (back to 1790), demographic information, and interactive demographic maps that can be queried and manipulated.
SimplyAnalytics This link opens in a new window
SimplyAnalytics contains 100,00+ data variables covering demographic, historical census data from 1980, real estate, housing, employment, consumer spending, consumer behavior, health data and over 23 million businesses from D&B.
A mapping, analytics, and data visualization app with 100,000+ data variables, including demographic data from the US Census dating back to 1980, and the American Community Survey (ACS), consumer spending data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey (CEX), and D&B's Premium business directory providing access to over 30 million US business profiles. The MRI-SimmonsLOCAL consumer behavior dataset is also available, which includes data on over 8,000 brands, 450 categories, and detailed lifestyle data. The Claritas PRIZM Premier marketing segmentation system enables users to understand lifestyle characteristics of places or identify target market segments. Users also have access to the CDC PLACES health dataset that includes 27 diverse health measures, such as Health Outcomes, Prevention, Risk Behaviors, and Health Status. Data is largely available down to the block group level, and custom locations can be created. Users may log in as a Guest, or create an account to save their work.

American FactFinder
From the Department of Commerce and the US Census Bureau, American Factfinder provides access to data about the United States, Puerto Rico and the Island Areas.