Commercial Property News is promoting more condominium and apartment development in the face of growing single-family home foreclosures.

Why? The reason is the growing echo boomers population getting started in careers and who eventually want to buy a house. The new development should help fill the need for the 7 million strong demographic, according to the real estate publication.

Though many communities are struggling with sales of existing dwellings, it looks like multi-family completions this year will surpass 2007 levels by more than 56,000 units, totaling nationwide construction around 250,000 units. That level of construction would be the highest in three years, according to the publication.

In fact, the National Association of Home Builders has tracked an increasing amount of multi-family housing starts throughout the year. So far, 2008 starts are outpacing last year’s year to date by more than 12 percent.

Many urban renewal programs are aiming at new multi-family housing construction as a means of revitalizing downtown regions and creating affordable housing. One such example includes an initiative launched by Gov. Jon Corzine of New Jersey involving a 10-year plan to develop 100,000 affordable housing units throughout the Garden State.

Published: September 8, 2008

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.