Purpose
The purpose of the RHFS is to provide current and continuous measure of financial, mortgage and property characteristics of multifamily rental housing properties in the United States.
The survey provides information on the financing of multifamily rental housing properties with emphasis on new originations for purchase, refinancing, and loan terms associated with these originations. In addition, the survey includes information on property characteristics, such as number of units, amenities available, rental income and expenditure information.
Analyses based on the RHFS data will help advise the executive and legislative branches in the development of multifamily housing policies, especially those pertaining to financing multifamily housing for target groups, such as low-income families and individuals and the elderly.
The data can also be used by businesses and other private entities involved in multifamily development, ownership and management to obtain detailed information on the financing options used by similar entities in the United States, and to obtain benchmark information on capital and operating expenditures, rental income, and the structure and design of these properties. Furthermore, researchers and policymakers can use these data to address various issues affecting their communities.
Key Topics
Multifamily financing, ownership patterns, origination, mortgages on properties, units and buildings on properties, units on property by bedroom count and housing for low-income families and individuals.
Respondents to the Survey
Owners or property managers of multifamily rental properties provide responses to the survey questions.
Sponsoring Agency and Legal Authorities
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) sponsors the survey under the authority of Title 12, United States Code (U.S.C.), Section 1701 z-1, 1701 z-2(g) and 1701z-10a. The U.S. Census Bureau conducts the survey under the authority of Title 13, United States Code, Section 8 and is subject to the strict confidentiality requirements as specified in Title 13 U.S.C., Section 9.
Summary Tables
- 2012 National Summary Tables (Excel and PDF) (V3.0 {now includes standard errors} released on 8/5/2014)
- 2012 Pittsburgh Summary Tables (Excel and PDF) (V3.0 {now includes standard errors} released on 8/5/2014)
Microdata
The document provides a layman’s overview of how we conducted the 2012 RHFS, the issues faced with the initial publication of the 2012 RHFS estimates, how those issues were corrected, and how new estimates compare with other data sources. |
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This document is for microdata users. This document contains descriptions of all the variables contained in the RHFS public use file microdata, as well as the internal use file. (V2.1 released on 6/9/2014) |
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This document provides technical information about RHFS sample design, weight, and error estimation. (Updated 5/30/14) |
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2012 Pittsburgh Methodology, Weighting, and Error Estimation |
This document provides technical information about RHFS sample design, weight, and error estimation. |
This document shows how the RHFS questions maps into microdata variables |
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This is a clean version of the 2012 RHFS questionnaire used for the National and Pittsburgh samples. |
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2012 Microdata Estimates for User Verification (Excel and PDF) |
This Excel file provides RHFS estimates based on the microdata. RHFS microdata users can compare their own estimates to the verification estimates to ensure coorespondence. |
This file provides the topcoding ranges for microdata variables that were topcoded. |
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This file provides the topcoding ranges for microdata variables that were topcoded. |
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This page provides answers to questions posed by RHFS data users. It is updated as users submit questions. |
Research
HUD is interested in highlighting and profiling researchers using the RHFS. If you are conducting research using the RHFS, please send an email to shawn.j.bucholtz@hud.gov.
Planning
HUD is planning to conduct the next national RHFS in the summer of 2015. We expect to conduct a survey similar to the 2012 RHFS, but using lessons learned during the 2012 data collection process. We expect results from the 2015 RHFS to be available in early 2016.
