Middleburg Chief Strategist Mark Franceski was quoted in The New York Times this week in a story on the strengthening rental market. With higher mortgage rates keeping would-be buyers in apartments longer and new construction slowing since 2022, rents are rising nationally for the first time in several years.
Franceski pointed to an unusual development in the data. The Consumer Price Index typically lags market rents by months because the government surveys each rental property only twice a year, but the two measures currently “seem to be moving in the same direction,” he told the Times. That alignment suggests the firming seen in private rent indexes is already flowing through to official inflation data, which matters for both the Federal Reserve and investors watching the multifamily sector.
Franceski joined Middleburg in 2026 from Zelman & Associates, where he led multifamily and REIT research, and he teaches market research in Georgetown University’s master’s in real estate program. At Middleburg, he connects the firm’s research with its investment strategy and capital markets work.
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