Apartment Trade Groups and Real Estate Investor Associations: Who Does What
Apartment investing has two kinds of groups. The big trade associations represent the people who own, build, manage and finance apartments. Investor associations serve individuals who buy property and want to learn. Both can help a first-time sponsor or investor. Neither gives legal or tax advice about a particular deal. This post describes the main groups, what each one says about itself, who can join, and where a newcomer might start.
Membership numbers and leadership change, so each entry links to the group's own page and says where its figures come from.
The big trade groups
| Group | What it is | Who can join | What it offers |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Apartment Association (NAA) | A trade group for the rental housing industry. NAA says it serves 139 state and local affiliates and more than 113,000 members, representing more than 13.7 million apartment homes | Most people join through a local affiliate. A company without a nearby affiliate can join as a Direct Member. Members are sorted into associate members (suppliers) and industry members, which include property owners | Education, networking, advocacy and industry tools, including a discount program called NAA 360 |
| National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) | A Washington, D.C. association that describes itself as representing the larger and most prominent apartment firms in the U.S. | Membership is for senior executives of firms in ownership, development, management and financing. NMHC's 2025 impact report says it has more than 2,000 member firms and added 330 new members that year | Advocacy, apartment research, the Emerging Leaders program (created in 2011), a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee and a Housing Help Hub for renters and housing providers |
NAA's and NMHC's pages are the source for these figures. NAA's Apartmentalize expo and NMHC's outlook conference are covered in our 2027 conference guide.
Both groups speak for the apartment industry, and both take positions on housing policy. Read their research as the view of the trade, not as neutral data. Our post on apartment market research free data sources lists government data you can check yourself.
Investor associations
The National Real Estate Investors Association (National REIA) is a 501(c)(6) trade association. Its site describes it as a federation of local associations or investment clubs across the United States. It has a directory on its community site for finding a chapter near you. We did not open that directory, so check it yourself.
Chapters we saw listed in the National REIA community forum include groups in Boston, the Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade area, Chicago, Philadelphia and Colorado. Local groups change, so confirm a chapter is active before you go. Some local groups run meetups where the speakers are sponsors. Treat a sponsor's talk the way you would treat a podcast: useful for learning, and something to check.
How a newcomer can use them
- Learn the operating side. The apartment trade groups show how a building is run: leasing, maintenance, staffing and the owner's reporting. That helps a sponsor understand the property manager's job and helps an investor read the monthly reports.
- Learn the investing side. Local investor groups are a low-cost place to hear how other investors evaluate a deal. Ask questions about the risks, not only the returns.
- Do not treat a group as a check on a sponsor. A membership, a speaker slot or a chapter role does not show that a sponsor's deal is sound. Check the sponsor's filings and the offering documents. Our guide to researching a sponsor on EDGAR and BrokerCheck shows how.
- Mind the securities rules. Depending on the exemption, a talk about a specific open deal at a meetup can count as general solicitation. Our post on what general solicitation means explains where the line is.
Where to start
If you are a sponsor with your first deal, a local investor group and a state apartment association are both useful for learning the market. If you are an investor, start with a local REIA meeting and ask every speaker how they get paid and what the downside looks like.
Sources
- NAA: about
- NAA: how to join
- NAA: direct member
- NMHC: about and officers
- NMHC: 2025 impact report
- National REIA: about
- National REIA community forum: clubs
This article is general information, not legal, tax or investment advice. DoorRaise is not affiliated with these groups and does not endorse them. Membership figures come from each group's own pages as of October 25, 2026 and may change.