Developers are great copy cats. One guy builds a new luxury condo project, does well, and suddenly he has ten

competitors following in his wake.

It is a behavior pattern that has its limitations, of course, especially if you are the tenth guy to build in a

particular market.

But I don’t expect, even with this downturn, for developers to start changing their stripes.

With the market for new condos in cinders and the demand for new office towers all but nonexistent, the question now

is what area will the next big surge come in?

My money, right now anyway, is rental housing. The collapse of the home and condo markets has created a whole bunch of

new renters, whether they like it or not.

And there are already signs that developers are picking up on this trend.

Developer Richard Galvin wants to spare a couple of Fort Point warehouses and convert them into apartments and artist studios.

studios.

The previous owner, Beacon Capital Partners, had proposed luxury condos.

Expect to see many more such shifts form condos to rentals over the next few years.

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