Multifamily construction is on the rise in metro Denver, so we were intrigued by an analysis of that market by Bill Connerly for Forbes.

As he notes in his forecast for the multifamily real estate market through 2020:

Multi-family housing construction is doing surprisingly well recently. Over the long run, housing units in buildings with five or more housing units comprise about 25 percent of all housing units constructed. So far in 2014, the figure is 35 percent. Why is multi-family so popular now?

Before reaching for a major change in attitudes about how we live, let’s consider other possibilities. Part of the story is demographics. Young adults will see, sometime in the coming five to ten years, a major shift away from multi-family and back into single-family homes. Real estate investors can enjoy today’s strong apartment market, but at some point in the future they will want to rotate out of apartments. When that time comes, it’s always better to be early than late.