A year ago, many people would have said it\'s a great time and economic environment to get involved in apartment-complex ownership. After all, there is the potential for a lot of money to be made, with income generated monthly.

Then the economy died. And now a lot of people wonder: Even if I\'d like to have a new apartment community built, will the banks finance the construction? And the answer is a surprising, YES.

In fact, more often than you might think, loans are being given to purchase apartments, to refinance, and to build new projects. Given the current lengthy credit crunch, this is good news, indeed.

In fact, here\'s a little tidbit that might surprise you. According to sources within the industry, the only areas where Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are currently making money is in the areas of mobile home and apartment lending.

And so, these two lending institutions have decided to strengthen apartment lending programs and increase liquidity. After all, the Fed has to rely on something, so it seems smart to strength something that\'s already demonstrating stability in order to create more growth in this apartment that\'s already faring well: the apartment industry.

The credit squeeze we\'re in right now began much like a virus. It started in the housing market and then contaminated commercial restate along the way, and finally afflicted almost every financial instrument, stock, business person and line of credit in America (and to some extent, around the world).

Yet despite all this, apartments have remained the least impacted (although sales volume has admittedly shown a sizable decline).

The credit crisis has become a disaster. Actually, the virus first reared its ugly head within credit markets in October \'06, and by the next year, the virus had started maturing.

One needs to look at the numbers to really appreciate the decline within the commercial real estate world. For October 2008, commercial sales volume was just a quarter of the October \'07 level and just a bit over 20% of 2006 levels. Quite a drop, eh?

Even for apartments, the fall-off has been steady and sharp. From October 06 to October 07, the number of properties traded fell 60%. They\'ve fallen yet another 75% in the past year.

Still, at the end of the day, apartments have held up well. And despite the naysayers, financing is out there and available and waiting for you. After all, more people are now in need of rental housing than perhaps ever before.