Leadership
Unique Experience
Beginning at M/PF Research in 1973, Ron Witten has spent a career studying and understanding the economic, demographic and housing market forces shaping apartment market performance.
President from 1978 through 2000, Witten led M/PF as the firm became a national leader in apartment market data and market analysis for the nation’s leading apartment companies. In July 1999, M/PF became a wholly owned subsidiary of RealPage, Inc., the leading provider of property management software to the apartment industry. He continued as president of M/PF prior to forming Witten Advisors in January 2001.
Working closely with senior management of the country’s major apartment developers and investors for more than 20 years, Mr. Witten has developed an insider’s perspective. This experience has highlighted the challenges, and the value, of making the right decisions on prospective investments and on company strategy. Thus, the mission of Witten Advisors: to lead investors, developers and lenders to “market-smart” decisions on apartment investments.
Industry Involvement
Mr. Witten has been a frequent speaker on market conditions as well as emerging demographic forces shaping the apartment markets, addressing meetings sponsored by organizations including the National Multi Housing Council, the Urban Land Institute, National Association of Home Builders’ Multifamily Leadership Board, National Apartment Association, NAREIT, and others.
Mr. Witten authored the chapter on market analysis in the ULI’s Multifamily Housing Development Handbook and co-authored ULI’s Real Estate Market Analysis text as well as books on real estate markets and investment strategies. He currently serves as a director of Behringer Harvard REIT I, Inc. as well as Apartment Life, a non-profit which helps build a sense of community in apartment properties to reduce turnover and enhance resident satisfaction. Mr. Witten also has served as a director of banks and thrifts, both on behalf of management and at the request of federal regulatory authorities. He routinely lectures on real estate markets at Southern Methodist University.
Mr. Witten has been active in the Urban Land Institute where he is past Chairman of both the Multi-Family Silver Council and the Multifamily Gold Council. He now serves as a member of the National Multi Housing Council’s Research Roundtable, and he authored NMHC’s quarterly Market Trends newsletter in its initial years of publication.
Educational Background
Mr. Witten received a BBA degree in Marketing from Texas Tech University and has completed graduate classes in Statistics and Economics at SMU.