WASHINGTON, D.C. — Multifamily developers and construction firms surveyed by the NMHC are optimistic about long-term multifamily construction conditions. According to results of the June 2026 NMHC Quarterly Survey of Apartment Construction & Development Activity, 46 percent of respondents expect conditions to improve (or easier to build) over the next six to 12 months compared to 14 percent of survey takers who expect conditions to worsen. The rest of the respondents either chose conditions to remain the same (35 percent) or “don’t know” (5 percent).

The optimism from the second-quarter survey could be in part due to the availability of financing. Fifty-one percent of survey takers expect equity to become more available (compared to 10 percent expecting equity to become less available) over the next six to 12 months, and 28 percent expecting debt financing to become more available (compared to 7 percent expecting debt financing to become less available).

While the survey takers were overall hopeful, they are wary of rising construction costs. A majority of respondents (51 percent) expect material costs to rise in line with inflation over the next six to 12 months, while 27 percent expect material costs to increase faster than the rate of inflation. Fifteen percent of survey takers expect material costs to decrease or increase at a slower rate than inflation.

“Inflation has picked up notably over the past few months,” says Chris Bruen, senior director of research and chief economist at NMHC. “Consumer prices rose by an annualized rate of 8.2 percent between February and May, according to the Consumer Price Index, and respondents to this month’s construction survey expect this to translate to higher construction costs over the coming year.”

Other results from the quarterly construction conditions survey include:

• 55 percent reported construction starts to be unchanged
• 20 percent experienced a decrease in delays
• 55 percent saw deals/contracts repriced
• 8 percent reported an increase in labor costs
• 18 percent reported a decrease in labor costs
• 22 percent reported an increase in material costs
• 22 percent saw a decrease in material costs

The NMHC conducted the survey from June 6-18 and received responses from 60 multifamily construction and development firms. Click here to read the full survey results, which include the respondents’ forecast for short-term market conditions.