Use these links to rapidly review the document
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INDEX TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Table of Contents

UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

Commission File Number: 000-53195

Behringer Harvard Multifamily REIT I, Inc.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Registrant's telephone number, including area code: (866) 655-3600

Securities registered pursuant to section 12(b) of the Act:
None

Securities registered pursuant to section 12(g) of the Act:

Common stock, $0.0001 par value per share
(Title of Class)

        Indicate by check mark if the Registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer (as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act). Yes o    No ý

        Indicate by check mark if the Registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes o    No ý

        Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required to file such reports) and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ý    No o

        Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required to submit and post such files). Yes o    No o

        Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of Registrant's knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. o

        Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of "large accelerated filer," "accelerated filer," and "smaller reporting company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (check one):

        Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes o    No ý

        While there is no established market for the Registrant's common stock, the aggregate market value of the Registrant's common stock held by non-affiliates of the Registrant as of June 30, 2009 (the last business day of the Registrant's most recently completed second fiscal quarter) was approximately $305.2 million, assuming a market value of $10.00 per share.

        As of February 28, 2010, the Registrant had 66,125,466 shares of common stock outstanding.

---

Table of Contents

BEHRINGER HARVARD MULTIFAMILY REIT I, INC.
FORM 10-K
Year Ended December 31, 2009

---

Table of Contents

Forward-Looking Statements

        Certain statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act") and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act"). These forward-looking statements include discussion and analysis of the financial condition of Behringer Harvard Multifamily REIT I, Inc. and its subsidiaries (which may be referred to herein as the "Company," "we," "us" or "our"), including, but not limited to, our ability to make accretive investments, our ability to generate cash flow to support cash distributions to our stockholders, our ability to obtain favorable debt financing, our ability to secure leases at favorable rental rates and other matters. Words such as "may," "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "would," "could," "should" and variations of these words and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements.

        These forward-looking statements are not historical facts but reflect the intent, belief or current expectations of our management based on their knowledge and understanding of the business and industry, the economy and other future conditions. These statements are not guarantees of future performance, and we caution stockholders not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or forecasted in the forward-looking statements due to a variety of risks, uncertainties and other factors, including but not limited to the factors listed and described under Item 1A, "Risk Factors" in this Annual Report on Form 10-K and the factors described below:

•

market and economic challenges experienced by the U.S. economy or real estate industry as a whole and the local economic conditions in the markets in which our properties are located;



•

our ability to make accretive investments in a diversified portfolio of assets;



•

the availability of cash flow from operating activities for distributions;



•

our level of debt and the terms and limitations imposed on us by our debt agreements;



•

the availability of credit generally, and any failure to obtain debt financing at favorable terms or a failure to satisfy the conditions and requirements of that debt;



•

our ability to secure resident leases at favorable rental rates;



•

our ability to raise capital through our initial public offering of shares of common stock and through joint venture arrangements;



•

our ability to retain our executive officers and other key personnel of our advisor, our property manager and their affiliates;



•

conflicts of interest arising out of our relationships with our advisor and its affiliates;



•

unfavorable changes in laws or regulations impacting our business or our assets; and



•

factors that could affect our ability to qualify as a real estate investment trust.

        Forward-looking statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K reflect our management's view only as of the date of this Report, and may ultimately prove to be incorrect or false. We undertake no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events or changes to future operating results. We intend for these forward-looking statements to be covered by the applicable safe harbor provisions created by Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Exchange Act.

3

---

Table of Contents

Cautionary Note

        The representations, warranties, and covenants made by us in any agreement filed as an exhibit to this Annual Report on Form 10-K are made solely for the benefit of the parties to the agreement, including, in some cases, for the purpose of allocating risk among the parties to the agreement, and should not be deemed to be representations, warranties, or covenants to or with any other parties. Moreover, these representations, warranties, or covenants should not be relied upon as accurately describing or reflecting the current state of our affairs.

4

---

Table of Contents

PART I

Item 1.    Business.

Organization

        Behringer Harvard Multifamily REIT I, Inc. (which, together with its subsidiaries as the context requires, may be referred to as the "Company," "we," "us," or "our") was organized in Maryland on August 4, 2006 and has elected to be taxed, and currently qualifies, as a real estate investment trust ("REIT") for federal income tax purposes. As a REIT, we generally are not subject to corporate-level income taxes. To maintain our REIT status, we are required, among other requirements, to distribute annually at least 90% of our "REIT taxable income," as defined by the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the "Code"), to our stockholders. If we fail to qualify as a REIT in any taxable year, we would be subject to federal income tax on our taxable income at regular corporate tax rates. As of December 31, 2009, we believe we are in compliance with all applicable REIT requirements.

        We invest in and operate high quality multifamily communities. These multifamily communities include conventional, stabilized, multifamily assets, such as mid-rise, high-rise, and garden style properties, and may also include student housing and age-restricted properties, typically requiring residents to be age 55 or older. Our targeted communities include existing "core" properties that are already stabilized and producing rental income as well as more opportunistic properties in various phases of development, redevelopment, in lease up or repositioning. Further, we may invest in other types of commercial real estate, real estate-related securities, mortgage, bridge, mezzanine or other loans and Section 1031 tenant-in-common interests, or in entities that make investments similar to the foregoing. We completed our first investment in April 2007 and, as of December 31, 2009, we have made investments in 20 multifamily communities of which eight are operating properties, ten are in lease up and two are in development. We have made and intend to continue making investments both in wholly owned investments and through co-investment arrangements with other participants ("Co-Investment Ventures").

        We have no employees and are supported by related party service agreements. We are externally managed by Behringer Harvard Multifamily Advisors I LP ("Behringer Harvard Multifamily Advisors I" or the "Advisor"), a Texas limited partnership organized in 2006. The Advisor is responsible for managing our affairs on a day-to-day basis and for identifying and making real estate investments on our behalf. Substantially all our business is conducted through our operating partnership, Behringer Harvard Multifamily OP I LP, a Delaware limited partnership ("Behringer Harvard Multifamily OP I"). Our wholly owned subsidiary, BHMF, Inc., a Delaware corporation ("BHMF Inc.") owns less than 0.1% of Behringer Harvard Multifamily OP I as its sole general partner. The remaining ownership interest in Behringer Harvard Multifamily OP I is held as a limited partner's interest by our wholly owned subsidiary BHMF Business Trust, a Maryland business trust.

        Our office is located at 15601 Dallas Parkway, Suite 600, Addison, Texas 75001, and our toll free telephone number is (866) 655-3600. The name Behringer Harvard is the property of Behringer Harvard Holdings, LLC and is used by permission.

Offerings of our Common Stock

        We are authorized to issue 875,000,000 shares of common stock, 1,000 shares of convertible stock and 124,999,000 shares of preferred stock. All shares of our stock have a par value of $0.0001 per share. On August 4, 2006 (our date of inception), we sold 1,249 shares of our common stock to Behringer Harvard Holdings, LLC ("Behringer Harvard Holdings") for $10,004 in cash. On November 28, 2007, we sold an additional 23,720 shares of our common stock to Behringer Harvard Holdings for cash of $189,997.

5

---

Table of Contents

        On November 22, 2006, we commenced a private offering pursuant to Regulation D of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act") to sell a maximum of approximately $400 million of common stock to accredited investors (the "Private Offering"). We terminated the Private Offering on December 28, 2007. We sold a total of approximately 14.2 million shares of common stock and raised a total of approximately $127.3 million in gross offering proceeds in the Private Offering. Net proceeds, after selling commissions, dealer manager fees, and other offering costs, were approximately $114.3 million.

        On September 5, 2008, we commenced our initial public offering (the "Initial Public Offering") of up to 200,000,000 shares of common stock offered at a price of $10.00 per share pursuant to a Registration Statement on Form S-11 filed under the Securities Act. The Initial Public Offering also covered the registration of up to an additional 50,000,000 shares of common stock at a price of $9.50 per share pursuant to our distribution reinvestment plan ("DRIP"). We reserve the right to reallocate shares of our common stock between the primary offering and our DRIP. As of December 31, 2009, we sold a total of approximately 43.1 million shares of common stock and raised a total of approximately $430.4 million in gross offering proceeds in the Initial Public Offering. Net proceeds, after selling commissions, dealer manager fees, and other offering costs were approximately $374.9 million.

        As of December 31, 2009, we had issued approximately 57.4 million shares of our common stock, including 943,485 shares through the DRIP, 24,969 shares owned by Behringer Harvard Holdings and 6,000 shares of restricted stock issued to our independent directors in connection with serving as a director. As of December 31, 2009, we had redeemed 321,020 shares of our common stock and had approximately 57.1 million shares of our common stock outstanding. As of December 31, 2009, we had 1,000 shares of non-participating, non-voting convertible stock issued and outstanding and no shares of preferred stock issued and outstanding. Aggregate gross offering proceeds from our offerings total approximately $555.3 million, and net proceeds, after selling commissions, dealer manager fees, and organization and offering expenses, total approximately $486.9 million.

        While conducting our Initial Public Offering, we admit new stockholders at least monthly. All subscription proceeds are held in a separate account until the subscribing investors are admitted as stockholders. Upon admission of new stockholders, subscription proceeds are transferred to operating cash and may be utilized as consideration for investments and the payment or reimbursement of dealer manager fees, selling commissions, offering expenses and operating expenses. Until required for such purposes, net offering proceeds are held in short-term, liquid investments including but not limited to money market accounts and FDIC-insured deposits.

        Our common stock is not currently listed on a national securities exchange. However, management anticipates within four to six years after the termination of our public offering to begin the process of either listing the common stock on a national securities exchange or liquidating our assets, depending on the then-prevailing market conditions.

        We intend to use the proceeds from our Initial Public Offering, after deducting offering expenses, primarily to make investments in multifamily communities, with a particular focus on acquiring high quality multifamily communities that will produce rental income. We intend to acquire a diversified income-producing portfolio of core assets, using multiple strategies. These strategies may include acquisitions of existing stabilized assets, assets in lease up, assets that may benefit from enhancement or repositioning and development assets. We intend to retain a mix of these investments as core assets generating recurring income with the potential for capital appreciation.

6

---

Table of Contents

2009 Highlights

        During 2009, we completed the following key transactions:

•

We issued approximately 42.1 million shares in our Initial Public Offering (including shares issued pursuant to the DRIP and excluding any redemptions for the period), resulting in gross proceeds to us of approximately $419.5 million;



•

We paid cash distributions of $11.5 million and distributed $8.8 million by issuing shares under our DRIP, which together constitutes an annualized distribution rate of 7%;



•

We invested approximately $388.1 million in real estate assets. These investments included:



•

Three wholly owned multifamily community investments in California, Connecticut and Georgia for which we paid an aggregate of approximately $150.3 million, excluding closing costs;



•

Seven new investments in Co-Investment Ventures for which we paid an aggregate of approximately $198.0 million. The Co-Investment Ventures acquired multifamily communities in California, New Jersey, Oregon, and Texas;



•

Three restructurings of existing investments in multifamily communities held by our Co-Investment Ventures for which we invested approximately $39.8 million. The Co-Investment Ventures invested additional equity and converted existing mezzanine loans to equity in the restructurings;



•

We obtained new financing for two multifamily communities at a weighted average fixed rate of 4.9%, receiving proceeds of $77.3 million; and



•

We increased modified funds from operations ("MFFO") year over year by 16% (see Item 7, "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" of this Annual Report on Form 10-K).

Investment Objectives

        Our overall investment objectives, in their relative order of importance are:

•

to preserve and protect investors' capital investments;



•

to realize growth in the value of our investments within four to six years of the termination of the Initial Public Offering;



•

to generate distributable cash to our stockholders; and



•

to enable investors to realize a return on their investment by beginning the process of liquidation and distribution cash or listing our shares on a national securities exchange within four to six years of termination of the Initial Public Offering.

Investment Policies

        Our investment strategy is designed primarily to make investments in high quality multifamily assets, with a particular focus on acquiring high quality multifamily communities that will produce rental income and will appreciate in value within our program's targeted life. We intend to acquire a diversified portfolio of core and more opportunistic assets on our own or through Co-Investment Ventures using multiple strategies. These strategies may include acquisitions of existing stabilized assets that are generating income, assets in the lease up phase, assets that may benefit from enhancement or repositioning and development assets. We may invest in other types of commercial real estate, including office buildings, shopping centers, business and industrial parks, manufacturing facilities, warehouses

7

---

Table of Contents

and distribution facilities and motel and hotel properties. We may also invest in real estate-related securities, including securities issued by other real estate companies, either for investment or in change of control transactions completed on a negotiated basis or otherwise. We also may originate or acquire investments in mortgage, bridge, mezzanine or other loans and Section 1031 tenant-in-common interests (including those issued by programs sponsored by Behringer Harvard Holdings, LLC), or in entities that make investments similar to the foregoing. As of December 31, 2009, all of our investments have been made in multifamily communities located in top 50 Metropolitan Statistical Areas ("MSA"), and we have not made any international investments. Although we intend to primarily invest in real estate assets located in the United States, in the future we may make investments in real estate assets located outside the United States. We will not make international investments until one of our independent directors has at least three years of relevant experience acquiring and managing such international investments.

        As part of our long-term investment strategy to acquire high quality multifamily communities, as of December 31, 2009, we have made 17 of our real estate and real estate-related investments by investing in Co-Investment Ventures. We believe this strategy will allow us to increase the number of our investments, thereby providing greater portfolio diversification, and to participate in larger real estate investments, thereby providing greater access to high quality investment opportunities. To accomplish this strategy, we have and intend to continue to enter into additional Co-Investment Ventures that invest in equity interests, mortgage, mezzanine or other loans, or other Co-Investment Ventures to acquire, develop or improve properties with third parties or certain affiliates of our Advisor, including real estate limited partnerships and REITs sponsored by affiliates of our Advisor. Our Co-Investment Ventures may be with large institutional entities with significant holdings.

        Recent market conditions have provided us, and may continue to provide us, with opportunities for investments in core properties, which are producing stabilized rental income. These investments have less uncertainty because projecting occupancy and rental rates is more quantifiable and financing is currently available at satisfactory terms. Investments in unstabilized properties, such as those in lease up, or development or redevelopment projects, will be based on underwriting assumptions that include realistic assessments of current rental rates and occupancies and higher total return expectations. In particular, for investments that are substantially constructed but are in lease up, we expect to achieve higher returns than comparable stabilized properties, but with less completion and financing risk than new developments. These may be structured as Co-Investment Ventures or wholly owned investments. We expect to negotiate favorable terms for our investments, particularly purchase price and financing terms, and in the case of equity investments, preferred returns and subordinations with respect to other equity holders. However, there is no assurance that we will be able to acquire new investments on these terms.

        We have and expect to continue to employ a loan investment strategy primarily during the development phase of certain projects. Investments in mezzanine and mortgage loans generally can provide higher current income than equity investments in development real estate projects while providing the opportunity, at our discretion, to invest in the long-term equity of the projects. In certain cases we may have the option of converting our loan investment into an equity position, where we would participate in operating earnings and would attempt to realize value appreciation upon the sale of the property. We believe this combination of loan and equity investments can lead to higher average returns and a higher-quality portfolio over the longer term.

        In the current economic environment, where both equity and debt capital have become more restricted, many owners of real estate require additional capital fundings, often in order to remove or reduce a construction loan, mezzanine loan, or equity component of a project. When presented with these opportunities, we will seek to acquire interests in multifamily communities by recapitalizing their capital structures in ways that afford us an advantaged, first-position priority return relative to other investors in the project. In this environment, we envision the ability to provide debt and equity

8

---

Table of Contents

investment capital on terms that favor us over existing investors with respect to our percentage ownership, preferred current returns and preferred returns of invested capital.

        In addition to current returns, we will look to acquire multifamily communities that we believe will also generate a competitive growth component for total returns. Our strategy will be to seek out investments with high quality construction and amenities that are trading below historical replacement costs. In particular, as of December 31, 2009, we have acquired three high quality multifamily communities which were originally built as condominium developments but the units were never sold. We have acquired these newly constructed communities at substantial discounts to their construction costs. Through our strategy of operating these as multifamily communities, we expect the higher condominium quality finishes to produce higher operating returns, while our lower basis may provide significant appreciation. If current economic conditions persist, we expect that the tight capital markets and opportunities from distressed sellers will enable us to acquire more of these types of assets that meet our investment criteria.

        When appropriate, we may also incorporate into our investment portfolio value-added multifamily communities that have either been mismanaged or otherwise have not realized what we believe to be full appreciation and income-generation potential. Generally, we would make capital improvements or seek to aesthetically improve the asset and its amenities, increase rents, and stabilize occupancy with the goal of adding an attractive increase in yield and improving total returns.

Co-Investment Ventures

        As of December 31, 2009, we have invested in 20 multifamily communities or projects, 17 of which we have invested in through Co-Investment Ventures. As of December 31, 2009 all of our Co-Investment Ventures have been made through joint ventures with Behringer Harvard Master Partnership I LP (the "BHMP Co-Investment Partner") through entities in which we are the manager. The 1% general partner of the BHMP Co-Investment Partner is Behringer Harvard Institutional GP LP, which is an affiliate of our Advisor and is indirectly owned by our sponsor, Behringer Harvard Holdings, LLC. The 99% limited partner of the BHMP Co-Investment Partner is Stichting Depositary PGGM Private Real Estate Fund, a Dutch foundation acting in its capacity as depositary of and for the account and risk of PGGM Private Real Estate Fund, an investment vehicle for large Dutch pension funds ("PGGM"). Substantially all of the capital provided to the BHMP Co-Investment Partner is from PGGM. We have no ownership or other direct financial interests in either of these entities.

        Each of our separate joint ventures with the BHMP Co-Investment Partner is made through a separate entity that owns 100% of the voting equity interests and approximately 99% of the economic interests in one subsidiary REIT, through which substantially all of the joint venture's business is conducted. Each separate joint venture entity, together with its respective subsidiary REIT, is referred to herein as a "BHMP CO-JV." Each BHMP CO-JV is a separate legal entity formed for the sole purpose of holding its respective investment and obtaining legally separated debt and equity financing.

        Each BHMP CO-JV is managed by us or a subsidiary of ours, but the operation of the BHMP CO-JV's investment must generally be conducted in accordance with operating plans approved by the BHMP Co-Investment Partner. In addition, without the consent of all members of the BHMP CO-JV, the manager may not generally approve or disapprove on behalf of the BHMP CO-JV certain major decisions affecting the BHMP CO-JV, such as (i) selling or otherwise disposing of the BHMP CO-JV's investment or any other property having a value in excess of $100,000, (ii) selling any additional interests in the BHMP CO-JV, (iii) approving initial and annual operating plans and capital expenditures or (iv) incurring or materially modifying any indebtedness of the BHMP CO-JV in excess of $100,000 or causing the BHMP CO-JV to become liable for any debt, obligation or undertaking of any other individual or entity in excess of $100,000 other than in accordance with the operating plans.

9

---

Table of Contents

The BHMP Co-Investment Partner may remove the manager for cause and appoint a successor. Distributions of net cash flow from the BHMP CO-JV will be distributed to the members no less than quarterly in accordance with the members' ownership interests. BHMP CO-JV capital contributions and distributions are made pro rata in accordance with ownership interests.

        Certain BHMP CO-JVs have made equity investments with third-party partners in, and/or have made loans to, entities that own one real estate operating property or development project. The collective group of these operating property entities or development entities are collectively referred to herein as "Property Entities." Each Property Entity is a separate legal entity for the sole purpose of holding its respective operating property or development project and obtaining legally separated debt and equity financing.

        As of December 31, 2009, two of our 17 BHMP CO-JVs have made only mezzanine or mortgage loan investments in Property Entities that are developing multifamily communities. These BHMP CO-JVs are dependent on the applicable Property Entity borrowers to pay contractual interest and other obligations. In addition, as of December 31, 2009, 15 of our 17 BHMP CO-JVs have made equity investments in Property Entities that are operating or developing multifamily communities. Of the 15 equity investments, eight are wholly owned by the BHMP CO-JV and seven are investments in Property Entities. All of these BHMP CO-JVs are dependent on individual multifamily residents to pay contractual rents. See Item 2, "Properties" of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for a description of each of these investments.

Borrowing Policies

        Our board of directors has adopted policies to generally limit our consolidated borrowings. Our consolidated borrowings shall not exceed 300% of our adjusted consolidated net assets. For these purposes we define adjusted consolidated net assets as our consolidated net equity less certain intangibles plus accumulated property and finance-related depreciation and amortization. Also, our board of directors has adopted a policy to generally limit our aggregate borrowings to approximately 75% of the aggregate value of our assets unless substantial justification exists that borrowing a greater amount is in our best interests. Our policy limitation, however, does not apply to unconsolidated investments of individual real estate assets and only will apply once we have ceased raising capital under the Initial Public Offering or any subsequent offering and invested substantially all of our capital. As a result, we expect to borrow more than 75% of the contract purchase price of a particular real estate asset we acquire, to the extent our board of directors determines that borrowing this amount is prudent. For these purposes, the value of our assets is based on methodologies and policies determined by the board of directors that may include, but do not require, independent appraisals. As of December 31, 2009, we have $51.3 million in consolidated borrowings, which represents less than 9.8% of our adjusted consolidated net assets and 32% of the carrying value of our real estate assets. Accordingly, as of December 31, 2009, these policies have not constrained our ability to incur debt. Should we incur additional consolidated borrowings, the board of directors may in their discretion modify these limits if in their judgment they determine there is substantial justification that borrowings of a greater amount is in our best interests. Our board of directors must review our aggregate borrowings at least quarterly. In addition to these formal policies, our board will evaluate other factors in determining the aggregate borrowings both on a consolidated basis and individually on a per property basis as assets are acquired, disposed and refinanced. These factors may include debt service coverage, fixed rate and variable rate targets and scheduling of maturities. Following the investment of the proceeds to be raised in the Initial Public Offering, we will seek a long term leverage ratio of approximately 60% upon stabilization of the aggregate value of our assets.

10

---

Table of Contents

        As with our investment policies, the current state of the capital markets may require us to take a very flexible policy to borrowings in the short term in order to achieve our long term objectives. Notwithstanding the above policies, depending on market conditions and the current life cycle of an acquired property, we may elect higher or lower leverage percentages or not borrow at all on a consolidated basis. We may also choose to have relatively less financing in our Co-Investment Ventures or Property Entity properties. On an on-going basis, we will continue to evaluate both the individual and portfolio maturity terms. In certain market conditions and for certain assets, we may elect to extend maturities or increase leverage for financings deemed to have favorable terms. If we do choose to incur fewer borrowings, we would expect to acquire fewer properties. Depending on the market capitalization rates and interest rates, this may result in lower net returns on our investments.

Tax Status

        We have elected to be taxed as a REIT under Sections 856 through 860 of the Code, and have qualified as a REIT since the year ended December 31, 2007. To qualify as a REIT, we must meet a number of organizational and operational requirements, including a requirement that we distribute at least 90% of our REIT taxable income to our stockholders. As a REIT, we generally will not be subject to federal income tax at the corporate level. We are organized and operate in such a manner as to qualify for taxation as a REIT under the Code, and we intend to continue to operate in such a manner, but no assurance can be given that we will operate in a manner so as to qualify or remain qualified as a REIT.

Distribution Policy

        In order to qualify as a REIT, we are required to distribute at least 90% of our annual REIT taxable income to our stockholders. Until we generate sufficient cash flow from operating activities to fully fund the payment of distributions, some or all of our distributions will be paid from other sources. For the year ended December 31, 2009, our distributions were partially funded from operating cash flow and the remainder from other financing activities, such as our offering proceeds. In addition, to the extent our investments are in properties in lease up, development or redevelopment projects or properties that have significant capital requirements, our ability to make distributions may be negatively impacted, especially during our early periods of operation. As development projects are completed and begin to generate income, we would expect to have additional funds available to distribute to the stockholders. We cannot assure as to when we will begin to generate sufficient cash flow solely from operating activities to make distributions.

        Distributions have and will continue to be authorized at the discretion of our board of directors, based on its analysis of our earnings, cash flow, anticipated cash flow, capital expenditure requirements, general financial condition or other factors that our board of directors deem relevant. The board's discretion will be influenced, in substantial part, by its obligation to cause us to comply with the REIT requirements. Because we may receive income from interest or rents at various times during our fiscal year, distributions may not reflect our income earned in that particular distribution period but may be paid in anticipation of cash flow that we expect to receive during a later period in an attempt to make distributions relatively uniform. Our board of directors currently declares distributions on a monthly or quarterly basis, portions of which are paid on a monthly basis. Monthly distributions are paid based on daily record and distribution declaration dates so our investors will be entitled to be paid distributions beginning on the day they purchase shares.

        Many of the factors that can affect the availability and timing of cash distributions to stockholders are beyond our control, and a change in any one factor could adversely affect our ability to pay future distributions. There can be no assurance that future cash flow will support paying our currently

11

---

Table of Contents

established distributions or maintaining distributions at any particular level or at all. Since we began operations, our board of directors has declared distributions as summarized below:

Competition

        We are subject to significant competition in seeking real estate investments and residents. We compete with many third parties engaged in real estate investment activities including other REITs, specialty finance companies, savings and loan associations, banks, mortgage bankers, insurance companies, mutual funds, institutional investors, investment banking firms, lenders, hedge funds, governmental bodies and other entities. We also face competition from other real estate investment programs, including other Behringer Harvard programs, for investments that may be suitable for us. Many of our competitors have substantially greater financial and other resources than we have and may have substantially more operating experience than either us or our Advisor. They also may enjoy significant competitive advantages related to, among other things, cost of capital, governmental regulation, access to real estate investments and resident services.

Regulations

        Our investments are subject to various federal, state, local and foreign laws, ordinances and regulations, including, among other things, zoning regulations, land use controls, environmental controls relating to air and water quality, noise pollution and indirect environmental impacts such as increased motor vehicle activity. We believe that we have all permits and approvals necessary under current law to operate our investments.

Environmental

        As an owner of real estate, we are subject to various environmental laws of federal, state and local governments. Compliance with existing laws has not had a material adverse effect on our financial condition or results of operations, and management does not believe it will have such an impact in the future. However, we cannot predict the impact of unforeseen environmental contingencies or new or changed laws or regulations on properties in which we hold an interest, or on properties that may be acquired directly or indirectly in the future.

Employees

        We have no employees. Our Advisor and other affiliates of Behringer Harvard Holdings perform a full range of real estate services for us, including acquisitions, property management, accounting, legal, asset management, wholesale brokerage and investor relations services.

        We are dependent on affiliates of Behringer Harvard Holdings for services that are essential to us, including the sale of shares of our common stock, asset acquisition decisions, property management and

12

---

Table of Contents

other general administrative responsibilities. In the event that these companies were unable to provide these services to us, we would be required to provide such services ourselves or obtain such services from other sources.

Industry Segment

        Our current business consists of investing in and operating multifamily communities. Substantially all of our consolidated net income is from real estate properties that we wholly own or own through joint ventures. We account for all of our joint ventures under the equity method of accounting. Our management evaluates operating performance on an individual property and/or joint venture level. However, as each of our wholly owned communities and joint ventures has similar economic characteristics, we are managed on an enterprise-wide basis with one reportable segment.

Available Information

        We electronically file Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and all amendments to those reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). We also have filed with the SEC registration statements on Form S-11 in connection with the Initial Public Offering of our common stock. Copies of our filings with the SEC may be obtained from the website maintained for us and our affiliates at www.behringerharvard.com or at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. Access to these filings is free of charge. We are not incorporating our website or any information from the website into this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Item 1A.    Risk Factors.

        The factors described below represent our principal risks. Other factors may exist that we do not consider to be significant based on information that is currently available or that we are not currently able to anticipate. Our stockholders or potential investors may be referred to as "you" or "your" and the Initial Public Offering may be referred to as "this offering" in this Item 1A, "Risk Factors" section.

Risks Related to an Investment in Behringer Harvard Multifamily REIT I

There is no public trading market for shares of our common stock; therefore, it will be difficult for you to sell your shares. If you are able to sell your shares, you may have to sell them at a substantial discount from the offering price.

        There is no public market for the shares. In addition, the price you receive for the sale of any shares of our common stock is likely to be less than the proportionate value of our investments. Therefore, you should purchase the shares only as a long-term investment. The minimum purchase requirements and suitability standards imposed on prospective investors in this offering also apply to subsequent purchasers of our shares. If you are able to find a buyer for your shares, you may not sell your shares to such buyer unless the buyer meets certain applicable blue sky (state-mandated) suitability standards, which may inhibit your ability to sell your shares. Moreover, our board of directors has approved the share redemption program. Our board of directors may reject any request for redemption of shares or amend, suspend or terminate our share redemption program at any time. Therefore, it will be difficult for you to sell your shares promptly or at all. You may not be able to sell your shares in the event of an emergency, and if you are able to sell your shares, you may have to sell them at a substantial discount from the offering price. It is also likely that your shares would not be accepted as the primary collateral for a loan.

Both we and our advisor have limited operating histories.

        We and our advisor are recently organized companies and have limited operating histories. We were incorporated in August 2006, and, as of December 31, 2009, have acquired real estate-related

13

---

Table of Contents

assets relating to only 20 specific properties. No assurances can be given that we will acquire any additional investments. Neither our officers and directors, nor the officers and employees of our advisor and its affiliates, have extensive experience investing in or originating different forms of debt financing such as mortgages, bridge, mezzanine or other loans beyond this real estate program.

        You should consider our prospects in light of the risks, uncertainties and difficulties frequently encountered by companies that are, like us, in their early stage of development. To be successful in this market, we must, among other things:

•

identify and acquire properties and other real estate-related assets that further our investment strategies;



•

maintain our dealer manager's network of licensed securities brokers and other agents;



•

attract, integrate, motivate and retain qualified personnel to manage our day-to-day operations;



•

respond to competition for our targeted properties and other real estate-related assets as well as for potential investors in us; and



•

continue to build and expand our operations structure to support our business.

        We cannot guarantee that we will succeed in achieving these goals, and our failure to do so could cause you to lose all or a portion of your investment.

The prior performance of real estate investment programs sponsored by affiliates of our advisor or our Chairman of the Board, Robert M. Behringer, may not be an indication of our future results.

        You should not rely upon the past performance of other real estate investment programs sponsored by affiliates of our advisor or Robert M. Behringer to predict our future results. Accordingly, the prior performance of real estate investment programs sponsored by affiliates of our Chairman of the Board, Mr. Behringer, and our advisor may not be indicative of our future results.

We may suffer from delays in locating suitable investments, which could adversely affect the return on your investment.

        Our ability to achieve our investment objectives and to make distributions to our stockholders is dependent upon the performance of our advisor in the acquisition of our investments and the determination of any financing arrangements as well as the performance of our property manager, the selection of multifamily community residents and the negotiation of leases. The current market for properties that meet our investment objectives is highly competitive as is the leasing market for such properties. The more shares we sell in this offering, the greater our challenge will be to invest all of the net offering proceeds on attractive terms. Except for the investments described in Item 2, "Properties" of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, you will have no opportunity to evaluate the terms of transactions or other economic or financial data concerning our investments. You must rely entirely on the oversight of our board of directors, the management ability of our advisor and the performance of the property manager. We cannot be sure that our advisor will be successful in obtaining suitable investments on financially attractive terms.

        We could suffer from delays in locating suitable investments as a result of our reliance on our advisor at times when management of our advisor is simultaneously seeking to locate suitable investments for other Behringer Harvard-sponsored programs, some of which have investment objectives and employ investment strategies that are similar to ours. Although our sponsor generally seeks to avoid simultaneous public offerings of funds that have a substantially similar mix of fund characteristics, including targeted investment types, investment objectives and criteria, and anticipated fund terms, there may be periods during which one or more Behringer Harvard-sponsored programs are seeking to invest in similar properties.

14

---

Table of Contents

        Additionally, as a public company, we are subject to the ongoing reporting requirements under the Exchange Act. Pursuant to the Exchange Act, we may be required to file with the SEC financial statements of properties we acquire and investments we make in real estate-related assets. To the extent any required financial statements are not available or cannot be obtained, we will not be able to acquire the investment. As a result, we may not be able to acquire certain properties or real estate-related assets that otherwise would be a suitable investment. We could suffer delays in our investment acquisitions due to these reporting requirements.

        Furthermore, where we acquire properties prior to the start of construction or during the early stages of construction, it will typically take several months to complete construction and rent available space. Therefore, you could suffer delays in the receipt of distributions attributable to those particular properties.

        Delays we encounter in the selection, acquisition and development of properties could adversely affect your returns. In addition, if we are unable to invest our offering proceeds in real properties and real estate-related assets in a timely manner, we will hold the proceeds of this offering in an interest-bearing account, invest the proceeds in short-term, liquid investments, including, but not limited to, money market accounts and FDIC-insured deposits, or, ultimately, liquidate. In such an event, our ability to pay distributions to our stockholders and the returns to our stockholders would be adversely affected.

Investors who invest in us earlier in our offering may realize a lower rate of return than later investors.

        Because we have made a limited number of investments and have not identified a significant number of other investments, there can be no assurances as to when we will begin to generate sufficient cash flow from operating activities to fully fund the payment of distributions. As a result, investors who invest in us before we commence substantial real estate operations and generate substantial cash flow may realize a lower rate of return than later investors. We expect to have little cash flow from operating activities available for distribution until we make substantial investments. In addition, to the extent our investments are in development or redevelopment projects, properties, or other real estate-related assets that have significant capital requirements, our ability to make distributions may be negatively impacted, especially during our early periods of operation. Therefore, until such time as we have sufficient cash flow from operating activities to fully fund the payment of distributions therefrom, some or all of our distributions will be paid from other sources, such as from the proceeds of this or other offerings, cash advances to us by our advisor, cash resulting from a waiver of asset management fees, and borrowings, including borrowings secured by our assets, in anticipation of future cash flow from operating activities.

Investors who invest later in this offering may realize a lower rate of return than investors who invest earlier in the offering to the extent we fund distributions from sources other than cash flow from operating activities.

        To the extent we incur debt to fund distributions earlier in this offering, the amount of cash available for distributions in future periods will be decreased by the repayment of such debt. Similarly, if we use offering proceeds to fund distributions, later investors may experience immediate dilution in their investment because a portion of our net assets would have been used to fund distributions instead of retained in our company and used to make real estate investments. Earlier investors will benefit from the investments made with funds raised later in the offering, while later investors may not share in their pro rata return of some of the net offering proceeds raised from earlier investors.

We may have to make decisions on whether to invest in certain properties or real estate-related assets, including prior to receipt of detailed information on the investment.

        In order to effectively compete for the acquisition of properties and other real estate-related assets in the current market, our advisor and board of directors may be required to make investment

15

---

Table of Contents

decisions and be required to make substantial non-refundable deposits prior to the completion of our analysis and due diligence on a property or real estate-related asset acquisition. In such cases, the information available to our advisor and board of directors at the time of making any particular investment decision, including the decision to pay any non-refundable deposit and the decision to consummate any particular acquisition, may be limited, and our advisor and board of directors may not have access to detailed information regarding any particular investment property, such as physical characteristics, environmental matters, zoning regulations or other local conditions affecting the investment property. Therefore, no assurance can be given that our advisor and board of directors will have knowledge of all circumstances that may adversely affect an investment. In addition, our advisor and board of directors expect to rely upon independent consultants in connection with their evaluation of proposed investment properties, and no assurance can be given as to the accuracy or completeness of the information provided by such independent consultants.

Because this is a blind pool offering and we have not specified properties or real estate-related assets to acquire with all of the proceeds from this offering, you will not have the opportunity to evaluate our additional investments before we make them.

        Because we have not yet identified all of the investments that we may make with proceeds from this offering, we are only able to provide you with information to evaluate our current investments. We will seek to invest substantially all of the offering proceeds available to us for investment, after the payment of fees and expenses, in the acquisition of real estate and real estate-related assets. Our success is greatly dependent on our ability to successfully invest the proceeds of this offering in additional investments.

If we are unable to raise substantial additional funds in this offering, we will be limited in the number and type of properties and real estate-related assets we may acquire and the return on your investment in us may fluctuate with the performance of the specific investments we make.

        This offering is being made on a "best efforts" basis, whereby the dealer manager and brokers participating in this offering are required to use only their best efforts to sell our shares and have no firm commitment or obligation to purchase any of the shares. As a result, we cannot assure you as to the amount of proceeds that will be raised in this offering. If we are unable to raise substantial additional funds in this offering, we will make fewer additional investments resulting in less diversification in terms of the number of investments owned, the geographic regions in which our properties and real estate-related assets are located and the types of investments that we acquire. In such event, the likelihood of our profitability being affected by the performance of any one of our investments will increase. As of December 31, 2009, we have made substantially all of our current investments through joint ventures and intend to continue this strategy. If we are able to make only a few additional investments, we would not achieve broad diversification of our investments. Additionally, we are not limited in the number or size of our investments or the percentage of net proceeds we may dedicate to a single asset. Your investment in our shares will be subject to greater risk to the extent that we lack a diversified portfolio. In addition, if we are unable to raise substantial additional funds, our fixed operating expenses, as a percentage of gross income, would be higher, and our financial condition and ability to pay distributions could be adversely affected.

If we lose or are unable to obtain key personnel, our ability to implement our investment strategies could be delayed or hindered.

        Our success depends to a significant degree upon the continued contributions of our chairman and certain executive officers and other key personnel of us, our advisor and its affiliates, including Robert M. Behringer and Robert S. Aisner, each of whom would be difficult to replace. We do not have employment agreements with our chairman, executive officers and other key personnel of us, our

16

---

Table of Contents

advisor and its affiliates, and we cannot guarantee that they will remain affiliated with us. Although our chairman, several of the executive officers and other key personnel of us, our advisor and its affiliates, including Mr. Behringer and Mr. Aisner, have entered into employment agreements with affiliates of our advisor, including Harvard Property Trust, these agreements are terminable at will, and we cannot guarantee that such persons will remain affiliated with our advisor. If any of our key personnel were to cease their affiliation with us, our advisor or its affiliates, our operating results could suffer. Further, although Behringer Harvard Holdings has key person insurance on the lives of Robert M. Behringer, Robert S. Aisner, Gerald J. Reihsen, III, Gary S. Bresky and M. Jason Mattox and Jeffrey S. Schwaber, we do not intend to separately maintain key person life insurance on these individuals, or any other person. We believe that our future success depends, in large part, upon our advisor's and its affiliates' ability to hire and retain highly skilled managerial, operational and marketing personnel. Competition for persons with these skills is intense, and we cannot assure you that our advisor will be successful in attracting and retaining such skilled personnel. Further, we have established, and intend in the future to establish, strategic relationships with firms that have special expertise in certain services or as to assets both nationally and in certain geographic regions. Maintaining these relationships will be important for us to effectively compete for assets. We cannot assure you that we will be successful in attracting and retaining such strategic relationships. If we lose or are unable to obtain the services of key personnel or do not establish or maintain appropriate strategic relationships, our ability to implement our investment strategies could be delayed or hindered.

If we internalize our management functions, your interest in us could be diluted, and we could incur other significant costs associated with being self-managed.

        Our strategy may involve internalizing our management functions. If we internalize our management functions, we may elect to negotiate to acquire our advisor's and property manager's assets and personnel. Under our advisory management agreement, we are restricted from hiring or soliciting any employee of our advisor or its affiliates for one year from the termination of the agreement. We are similarly restricted under our property management agreement with respect to the employees of our property manager or its affiliates. These restrictions could make it difficult to internalize our management functions without acquiring assets and personnel from our advisor and its affiliates for consideration that would be negotiated at that time. At this time, we cannot be sure of the form or amount of consideration or other terms relating to any such acquisition. Such consideration could take many forms, including cash payments, promissory notes and shares of our stock. The payment of such consideration could result in dilution of your interests as a stockholder and could reduce the net income per share and funds from operations per share attributable to your investment.

        In addition, while we would no longer bear the costs of the various fees and expenses we expect to pay to our advisor under the advisory management agreement if we internalize, our direct expenses would include general and administrative costs, including legal, accounting and other expenses related to corporate governance and SEC reporting and compliance. We would also incur the compensation and benefits costs of our officers and other employees and consultants that we now expect will be paid by our advisor or its affiliates. In addition, we may issue equity awards to officers, employees and consultants, which awards would decrease net income and funds from operations and may further dilute your investment. We cannot reasonably estimate the amount of fees to our advisor we would save and the costs we would incur if we became self-managed. If the expenses we assume as a result of an internalization are higher than the expenses we avoid paying to our advisor, our net income per share and funds from operations per share would be lower as a result of the internalization than it otherwise would have been, potentially decreasing the amount of funds available to distribute to our stockholders and the value of our shares.

        As currently organized, we will not directly employ any employees. If we elect to internalize our operations, we would employ personnel and would be subject to potential liabilities commonly faced by

17

---

Table of Contents

employers, such as workers disability and compensation claims, potential labor disputes and other employee-related liabilities and grievances. Nothing in our charter prohibits us from entering into the transaction described above.

        If we internalize our management functions, we could have difficulty integrating these functions as a stand-alone entity. As of December 31, 2009, certain personnel of our advisor and its affiliates perform property management, asset management and general and administrative functions, including accounting and financial reporting, for multiple entities. We could fail to properly identify the appropriate mix of personnel and capital needs to operate as a stand-alone entity. An inability to manage an internalization transaction effectively could thus result in our incurring excess costs and/or suffering deficiencies in our disclosure controls and procedures or our internal control over financial reporting. Such deficiencies could cause us to incur additional costs, and our management's attention could be diverted from most effectively managing our portfolio of investments.

We have, and may in the future, pay distributions from sources other than our cash flow from operating activities and if we continue to do so, we will have less funds available to make investments and your overall return may be reduced.

        Our organizational documents permit us to make distributions from any source, such as from the proceeds of our prior private offering, this public offering or other offerings, cash advances to us by our advisor, cash resulting from a waiver of asset management fees, and borrowings, including borrowings secured by our assets, in anticipation of future cash flow from operating activities. The distributions paid in the twelve months ended December 31, 2009 and 2008 were approximately $11.5 million and $5.7 million, respectively. For the twelve months ended December 31, 2009 and 2008, cash flows from operating activities were approximately $0.2 million and $2.4 million, respectively. Accordingly, for the twelve months ended December 31, 2009 and 2008, total distributions exceeded cash flow from operating activities for the same periods, which differences were funded from proceeds from our offerings. If we continue to fund a portion of distributions from the net proceeds from this offering or from additional sources that are other than operating activities, we will have fewer funds available for acquiring properties and other investments, and your overall return may be reduced. Further, to the extent distributions exceed cash flow from operating activities, a stockholder's basis in our stock will be reduced and, to the extent distributions exceed a stockholder's basis, the stockholder may recognize capital gain.

Our rights and the rights of our stockholders to recover claims against our independent directors are limited, which could reduce your and our recovery against them if they negligently cause us to incur losses.

        Maryland law provides that a director has no liability in that capacity if he performs his duties in good faith, in a manner he reasonably believes to be in our best interests and with the care that an ordinarily prudent person in a like position would use under similar circumstances. Our charter provides that generally no independent director shall be liable to us or our stockholders for monetary damages and that we will generally indemnify them for losses unless they are grossly negligent or engage in willful misconduct. As a result, you and we may have more limited rights against our independent directors than might otherwise exist under common law, which could reduce your and our recovery from these persons if they act in a negligent manner. In addition, we may be obligated to fund the defense costs incurred by our independent directors (as well as by our other directors, officers, employees of our advisor and its affiliates and agents) in some cases, which would decrease the cash otherwise available for distributions to you. We will also purchase and maintain insurance on behalf of all of our directors and officers against liability asserted against or incurred by them in their official capacities with us, whether or not we are required or have the power to indemnify them against the same liability.

18

---

Table of Contents

We have relatively less experience with respect to international investments as compared to domestic investments, which could adversely affect our return on international investments.

        The experience of our advisor and its affiliates with respect to investing in multifamily communities or other real estate-related assets located outside the United States is not as extensive as it is with respect to investments in the United States. We may make international investments after one of our independent directors has at least three years of relevant experience acquiring and managing such international investments. If and when we do make international investments, our relatively limited experience with respect to such investments could adversely affect our return on them.

Your investment may be subject to additional risks if we make international investments.

        In the future, we may make investments in real estate assets located outside the United States and may make or purchase mortgage, bridge, mezzanine or other loans or joint venture interests in mortgage, bridge, mezzanine or other loans made to a borrower located outside the United States or secured by property located outside the United States. Any international investments may be affected by factors peculiar to the laws of the jurisdiction in which the borrower or the property is located. These laws may expose us to risks that are different from and in addition to those commonly found in the United States. Foreign investments could be subject to the following risks:

•

governmental laws, rules and policies, including laws relating to the foreign ownership of real property or mortgages and laws relating to the ability of foreign persons or corporations to remove profits earned from activities within the country to the person's or corporation's country of origin;



•

variations in currency exchange rates;



•

adverse market conditions caused by inflation or other changes in national or local economic conditions;



•

changes in relative interest rates;



•

changes in the availability, cost and terms of mortgage funds resulting from varying national economic policies;



•

changes in real estate and other tax rates, the tax treatment of transaction structures and other changes in operating expenses in a particular country where we have an investment;



•

our REIT tax status not being respected under foreign laws, in which case our income or gains from foreign sources would likely be subject to foreign taxes, withholding taxes, transfer taxes and value added taxes;



•

lack of uniform accounting standards (including availability of information in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles);



•

changes in land use and zoning laws;



•

more stringent environmental laws or changes in these laws;



•

changes in the social stability or other political, economic or diplomatic developments in or affecting a country where we have an investment;



•

we, our sponsor, our advisor and its affiliates have relatively less experience investing in real property or other investments outside the United States than within the United States; and



•

legal and logistical barriers to enforcing our contractual rights.

        Any of these risks could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations and ability to pay distributions to our stockholders.

19

---

Table of Contents

If our sponsor, our advisor or its affiliates waive certain fees due to them, our results of operations and distributions may be artificially high.

        From time to time, our sponsor, our advisor or its affiliates may agree to waive or defer all or a portion of the acquisition, asset management or other fees, compensation or incentives due to them, pay general administrative expenses or otherwise supplement stockholder returns in order to increase the amount of cash available to make distributions to stockholders. If our sponsor, our advisor or its affiliates choose to no longer waive or defer such fees and incentives, our results of operations will be lower than in previous periods and your return on your investment could be negatively affected.

Risks Related to Conflicts of Interest

Because a number of Behringer Harvard-sponsored real estate programs use investment strategies that are similar to ours, our advisor and its and our executive officers will face conflicts of interest relating to the purchase of properties and other real estate-related assets, and such conflicts may not be resolved in our favor.

        Although our sponsor generally seeks to avoid simultaneous public offerings of funds that have a substantially similar mix of fund characteristics, including targeted investment types, investment objectives and criteria, and anticipated fund terms, there may be periods during which one or more Behringer Harvard-sponsored programs are seeking to invest in similar properties and other real estate-related investments. In particular, Behringer Harvard Opportunity REIT II (which is currently conducting an initial public offering) and Behringer Harvard REIT II (a recently organized program that has filed with the SEC a registration statement relating to a planned initial public offering, but has not yet commenced its offering) are seeking to raise significant offering proceeds for investment in a broad range of property types, including multifamily communities. As a result, we may be buying properties and other real estate-related investments at the same time as one or more of the other Behringer Harvard-sponsored programs managed by officers and employees of our advisor and/or its affiliates, and these other Behringer Harvard-sponsored programs may use investment strategies that are similar to ours. Our executive officers and the executive officers of our advisor are also the executive officers of other Behringer Harvard-sponsored REITs and their advisors, the general partners of Behringer Harvard-sponsored partnerships and/or the advisors or fiduciaries of other Behringer Harvard-sponsored programs, and these entities are and will be under common control. There is a risk that our advisor will choose a property that provides lower returns to us than a property purchased by another Behringer Harvard-sponsored program. In the event these conflicts arise, we cannot assure you that our best interests will be met when officers and employees acting on behalf of our advisor and on behalf of advisors and managers of other Behringer Harvard-sponsored programs decide whether to allocate any particular property to us or to another Behringer Harvard-sponsored program or affiliate of our advisor, which may have an investment strategy that is similar to ours. In addition, we may acquire properties in geographic areas where other Behringer Harvard-sponsored programs own properties. Similar conflicts of interest may apply if our advisor determines to make or purchase mortgage, bridge or mezzanine loans or participations in mortgage, bridge or mezzanine loans on our behalf, because other Behringer Harvard-sponsored programs may be competing with us for such investments. You will not have the opportunity to evaluate the manner in which these conflicts of interest are resolved before or after making your investment.

Behringer Harvard Multifamily Advisors I and its affiliates, including all of our executive officers and some of our directors will face conflicts of interest caused by their compensation arrangements with us, which could result in actions that are not in the long-term best interests of our stockholders.

        Our advisor, Behringer Harvard Multifamily Advisors I and its affiliates, including our dealer manager and our property manager, are entitled to substantial fees from us under the terms of the advisory management agreement, dealer manager agreement and property management agreement. These fees could influence our advisor's advice to us as well as the judgment of affiliates of our advisor

20

---

Table of Contents

performing services for us. Among other matters, these compensation arrangements could affect their judgment with respect to:

•

the continuation, renewal or enforcement of our agreements with our advisor and its affiliates, including the advisory management agreement, the dealer manager agreement and the property management agreement;



•

public offerings of equity by us, which entitle Behringer Securities to dealer manager fees and will likely entitle our advisor to increased acquisition and asset management fees;



•

property sales, which may result in the issuance to our advisor of shares of our common stock through the conversion of our convertible stock;



•

property acquisitions from other Behringer Harvard-sponsored programs, which might entitle affiliates of our advisor to real estate commissions and possible success-based sale fees in connection with its services for the seller;



•

property acquisitions from third parties, which entitle our advisor to acquisition fees and asset management fees;



•

borrowings to acquire properties, which borrowings will increase the acquisition and asset management fees payable to our advisor;



•

determining the compensation paid to employees for services provided to us, which could be influenced in part by whether or not the advisor is reimbursed by us for the related salaries and benefits;



•

whether we seek to internalize our management functions, which internalization could result in our retaining some of our advisor's key officers and employees for compensation that is greater than that which they currently earn or which could require additional payments to affiliates of our advisor to purchase the assets and operations of our advisor;



•

whether and when we seek to list our common stock on a national securities exchange, which listing could entitle our advisor to the issuance of shares of our common stock through the conversion of our convertible stock;



•

whether and when we seek to sell our assets, which sale may result in the issuance to our advisor of shares of our common stock through the conversion of our convertible stock; and



•

whether and when we have paid distributions to common stockholders such that aggregate distributions are equal to 100% of the price at which we sold our outstanding shares of common stock plus an amount sufficient to produce a 7% cumulative, non-compounded, annual return at that price, which distributions could entitle our advisor to the issuance of shares of our common stock through the conversion of our convertible stock.

        The fees our advisor receives in connection with transactions involving the purchase and management of an asset are based on the cost of the investment, including the amount budgeted for the development, construction, and improvement of each asset, and not based on the quality of the investment or the quality of the services rendered to us. This may influence our advisor to recommend riskier transactions to us. Furthermore, the advisor will refund these fees to the extent they are based on budgeted amounts that prove too high once development, construction, or improvements are completed, but the fact that these fees are initially calculated in part based on budgeted amounts could influence our advisor to overstate the estimated costs of development, construction, or improvements in order to accelerate the cash flow it receives.

        In addition, the terms of our convertible stock allow for its conversion into shares of common stock if we terminate the advisor prior to the listing of our shares for trading on a national securities

21

---

Table of Contents

exchange other than as a result of the advisor's material breach of the advisory management agreement. To avoid the additional costs of engaging a new advisor or internalizing advisory functions, our independent directors may decide against terminating the advisory management agreement prior to the listing of our shares or disposition of our investments even if termination of the advisory management agreement would be in our best interest. In addition, the conversion feature of our convertible stock could cause us to make different investment or disposition decisions than we would otherwise make, in order to avoid the stock conversion. Moreover, our advisor can influence whether and when our common stock is listed for trading on a national securities exchange or our assets are liquidated, and its interest in our convertible stock could influence its judgment with respect to listing or liquidation.

Our advisor will face conflicts of interest relating to joint ventures, tenant-in-common investments or other co-ownership arrangements that we enter with other Behringer Harvard-sponsored programs, which could result in a disproportionate benefit to another Behringer Harvard-sponsored program.

        We may enter into joint ventures, tenant-in-common investments or other co-ownership arrangements with other Behringer Harvard-sponsored programs for the acquisition, development or improvement of multifamily or other properties as well as the acquisition of real estate-related investments. The executive officers of our advisor are also the executive officers of other Behringer Harvard-sponsored REITs and their advisors, the general partners of other Behringer Harvard-sponsored partnerships and/or the advisors or fiduciaries of other Behringer Harvard-sponsored programs. These executive officers will face conflicts of interest in determining which Behringer Harvard-sponsored program should enter into any particular joint venture, tenant-in-common or co-ownership arrangement. Further, the fiduciary obligation that our advisor or our board of directors may owe to a co-venturer, co-tenant or partner affiliated with our sponsor or advisor may make it more difficult for us to enforce our rights. These persons may also have a conflict in structuring the terms of the relationship between our interests and the interests of the Behringer Harvard-sponsored co-venturer, co-tenant or partner as well as conflicts of interest in managing the joint venture.

        In the event that we enter into a joint venture, tenant-in-common investment or other co-ownership arrangements with another Behringer Harvard-sponsored program or joint venture, our advisor and its affiliates may have a conflict of interest when determining when and whether to buy or sell a particular real estate property, and you may face certain additional risks. For example, it is anticipated that Behringer Harvard Short-Term Opportunity Fund I will never have an active trading market. Therefore, if we become listed for trading on a national securities exchange, we may develop more divergent goals and objectives from such joint venturer with respect to the sale of properties in the future. In addition, in the event we enter into a joint venture with a Behringer Harvard-sponsored program that has a term shorter than ours, the joint venture may be required to sell its properties at the time of the other Behringer Harvard-sponsored program's liquidation. We may not desire to sell the properties at such time. Even if the terms of any joint venture agreement between us and another Behringer Harvard-sponsored program grant us a right of first refusal to buy such properties, we may not have sufficient funds to exercise our right of first refusal under these circumstances.

        Because Mr. Behringer and his affiliates indirectly control our advisor and other Behringer Harvard-sponsored programs, agreements and transactions among the parties with respect to any joint venture, tenant-in-common investment or other co-ownership arrangement between or among such parties will not have the benefit of arm's-length negotiation of the type normally conducted between unrelated co-venturers. Under these joint ventures, neither co-venturer may have the power to control the venture, and under certain circumstances, an impasse could be reached regarding matters pertaining to the co-ownership arrangement, which might have a negative influence on the joint venture and decrease potential returns to you. In the event that a co-venturer has a right of first refusal to buy out the other co-venturer, it may be unable to finance such buy-out at that time. If our interest is

22

---

Table of Contents

subject to a buy/sell right, we may not have sufficient cash, available borrowing capacity or other capital resources to allow us to elect to purchase an interest of a co-venturer subject to the buy/sell right, in which case we may be forced to sell our interest as the result of the exercise of such right when we would otherwise prefer to keep our interest. Furthermore, we may not be able to sell our interest in a joint venture if we desire to exit the venture for any reason or if our interest is likewise subject to a right of first refusal of our co-venturer or partner, our ability to sell such interest may be adversely impacted by such right.

The co-investment arrangement entered into by a subsidiary of our sponsor with PGGM requires it to offer PGGM a right of first refusal to co-invest with our sponsor or its affiliates or investment programs in multifamily investments that meet certain specified investment guidelines which are a significant majority of the type of investments that we intend to acquire.

        Our sponsor has entered into a co-investment arrangement for multifamily investments. Under the arrangement, our sponsor or one of its affiliates or investment programs will generally provide 55% of the capital for each investment, and our BHMP Co-Investment Partner, which is 99% owned by PGGM and 1% indirectly wholly owned by our sponsor, will generally provide 45% of the capital for each investment. Generally, our co-investment ownership with our BHMP Co-Investment Partner will incorporate a subsidiary REIT structure to acquire the multifamily investment. PGGM has committed to invest up to $300 million under this arrangement. As of December 31, 2009, PGGM's commitment is approximately $221.9 million under this arrangement to existing investments. Our sponsor's co-investment arrangement with PGGM is intended to allow for co-investments with any Behringer Harvard-sponsored investment program; however, because of our investment objectives, we believe that we are the most likely Behringer Harvard-sponsored investment program to co-invest with the BHMP Co-Investment Partner. We have committed to invest up to $370 million to co-investments approved by our board of directors and expect that we will generally provide the 55% of capital for each such investment that is required from an affiliate or investment program of our sponsor. Until PGGM has reached its $300 million commitment, PGGM has a right of first refusal to co-invest in multifamily investments of the type targeted by the co-investment arrangement that are made by our sponsor or its affiliates or investment programs. This arrangement reduces the likelihood that we will pursue independent investment in multifamily investment opportunities of the type targeted by the co-investment arrangement until the capital commitment of PGGM has been substantially invested.

Our advisor's executive officers and key personnel and the executive officers and key personnel of Behringer Harvard-affiliated entities that conduct our day-to-day operations and this offering will face competing demands on their time, and this may cause our investment returns to suffer.

        We rely upon the executive officers of our advisor and the executive officers and employees of Behringer Harvard-affiliated entities to conduct our day-to-day operations and this offering. These persons also conduct the day-to-day operations of other Behringer Harvard-sponsored programs, including (x) other public programs such as Behringer Harvard REIT I, Behringer Harvard Opportunity REIT I, Behringer Harvard Opportunity REIT II (which is also currently raising capital), Behringer Harvard Short-Term Opportunity Fund I, and Behringer Harvard Mid-Term Value Enhancement Fund I, (y) Behringer Harvard REIT II, a recently organized program that has filed with the SEC a registration statement relating to an initial public offering but has not yet commenced its offering, and (z) numerous private programs. These persons may have other business interests as well. Because these persons have competing interests on their time and resources, they may have conflicts of interest in allocating their time between our business and these other activities. Should our advisor inappropriately devote insufficient time or resources to our business, the returns on our investments may suffer.

23

---

Table of Contents

Our officers face conflicts of interest related to the positions they hold with entities affiliated with our advisor, which could diminish the value of the services they provide to us.

        All of our executive officers, including Mr. Aisner, who serves as our Chief Executive Officer and a director, are also officers of one or more other entities affiliated with our advisor, including our property manager, our dealer manager and the advisors and fiduciaries to other Behringer Harvard-sponsored programs. As a result, these individuals owe fiduciary duties to these other entities and their investors, which may conflict with the fiduciary duties that they owe to us and our stockholders. Their loyalties to these other entities and investors could result in action or inaction that is detrimental to our business, which could harm the implementation of our business strategy and our investment and leasing opportunities. Conflicts with our business and interests are most likely to arise from involvement in activities related to: (1) allocation of new investments and management time and services between us and the other entities; (2) the timing and terms of the investment in or sale of an asset; (3) development of our properties by affiliates of our advisor; (4) investments with affiliates of our advisor; (5) compensation and incentives to our advisor; and (6) our relationship with our dealer manager and property manager. If we do not successfully implement our business strategy, we may be unable to generate the cash needed to make distributions to you and to maintain or increase the value of our assets.

Your investment will be diluted upon conversion of the convertible stock.

        Our advisor purchased 1,000 shares of our convertible stock for an aggregate purchase price of $1,000. Under limited circumstances, these shares may be converted into shares of our common stock, resulting in dilution of our stockholders' interest in us. Our convertible stock will convert into shares of common stock on one of two events. First, it will convert if we have paid distributions to common stockholders such that aggregate distributions are equal to 100% of the price at which we sold our outstanding shares of common stock plus an amount sufficient to produce a 7% cumulative, non-compounded, annual return at that price. Alternatively, the convertible stock will convert if we list our shares of common stock on a national securities exchange and, on the 31st trading day after listing, the value of our company based on the average trading price of our shares of common stock since the listing, plus prior distributions, combine to meet the same 7% return threshold for our common stockholders. Each of these two events is a "Triggering Event." Upon a Triggering Event, our convertible stock will, unless our advisory management agreement with our advisor has been terminated or not renewed on account of a material breach by our advisor, generally convert into shares of common stock with a value equal to 15% of the excess of the value of the company plus the aggregate value of distributions paid to date on the then outstanding shares of our common stock over the aggregate issue price of those outstanding shares plus a 7% cumulative, non-compounded, annual return on the issue price of those outstanding shares. However, if our advisory management agreement with our advisor expires without renewal or is terminated (other than because of a material breach by our advisor) prior to a Triggering Event, then upon a Triggering Event the holder of the convertible stock will be entitled to a prorated portion of the number of shares of common stock determined by the foregoing calculation, where such proration is based on the percentage of time that we were advised by our advisor. As a result, following conversion, the holder of the convertible stock will be entitled to a portion of amounts distributable to our stockholders, which such amounts distributable to the holder could be significant. Our advisor and Mr. Behringer can influence whether and when our common stock is listed for trading on a national securities exchange or our assets are liquidated, and their interest in our convertible stock could influence their judgment with respect to listing or liquidation.

24

---

Table of Contents

Because we rely on affiliates of Behringer Harvard Holdings for the provision of advisory, property management and dealer manager services, if Behringer Harvard Holdings is unable to meet its obligations we may be required to find alternative providers of these services, which could result in a significant and costly disruption of our business.

        Behringer Harvard Holdings, through one or more of its subsidiaries, owns and controls our advisor, our property manager, and our dealer manager. The operations of our advisor, our property manager and our dealer manager rely substantially on Behringer Harvard Holdings. Behringer Harvard Holdings is largely dependent on fee income from its sponsored real estate programs. The current real estate market disruptions could adversely affect the amount of such fee income. In the event that Behringer Harvard Holdings becomes unable to meet its obligations as they become due, we might be required to find alternative service providers, which could result in a significant disruption of our business and would likely adversely affect the value of your investment in us. Further, given the non-compete agreements in place with Behringer Harvard Holdings' employees and the non-solicitation agreements we have with our advisor and property manager, it would be difficult for us to utilize any current employees that provide services to us.

Risks Related to Our Business in General

A limit on the number of shares a person may own may discourage a takeover.

        Our charter, with certain exceptions, authorizes our directors to take such actions as are necessary and desirable to preserve our qualification as a REIT. Unless exempted by our board of directors, no person may own more than 9.8% of our outstanding shares of common or preferred stock. This restriction may have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change in control of us, including an extraordinary transaction (such as a merger, tender offer or sale of all or substantially all of our assets) that might otherwise provide our stockholders with the opportunity to receive a control premium for their shares.

Our charter permits our board of directors to issue stock with terms that may subordinate the rights of the holders of our current common stock or discourage a third party from acquiring us.

        Our charter permits our board of directors to issue up to 1,000,000,000 shares of capital stock. Our board of directors, without any action by our stockholders, may: (1) increase or decrease the aggregate number of shares; (2) increase or decrease the number of shares of any class or series we have authority to issue; or (3) classify or reclassify any unissued common stock or preferred stock and establish the preferences, conversion or other rights, voting powers, restrictions, limitations as to distributions, qualifications or terms or conditions of redemption of any such stock. Thus, our board of directors could authorize the issuance of such stock with terms and conditions that could subordinate the rights of the holders of our current common stock or have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change in control of us, including an extraordinary transaction (such as a merger, tender offer or sale of all or substantially all of our assets) that might provide a premium price for holders of our common stock.

Maryland law prohibits certain business combinations, which may make it more difficult for us to be acquired.

        Under Maryland law, "business combinations" between a Maryland corporation and an "interested stockholder" or an affiliate of an interested stockholder are prohibited for five years after the most recent date on which the interested stockholder becomes an interested stockholder. These business combinations include a merger, consolidation, share exchange, or, in circumstances specified in the

25

---

Table of Contents

statute, an asset transfer or issuance or reclassification of equity securities. An interested stockholder is defined as:

•

any person who beneficially owns 10% or more of the voting power of the then outstanding voting stock of the corporation; or



•

an affiliate or associate of the corporation who, at any time within the two-year period prior to the date in question, was the beneficial owner of 10% or more of the voting power of the then outstanding voting stock of the corporation.

        A person is not an interested stockholder under the statute if the board of directors approved in advance the transaction by which the person otherwise would have become an interested stockholder. However, in approving a transaction, the board of directors may provide that its approval is subject to compliance, at or after the time of approval, with any terms and conditions determined by the board.

        After the expiration of the five-year period described above, any business combination between the Maryland corporation and an interested stockholder must generally be recommended by the board of directors of the corporation and approved by the affirmative vote of at least:

•

80% of the votes entitled to be cast by holders of the then outstanding shares of voting stock of the corporation; and



•

two-thirds of the votes entitled to be cast by holders of voting stock of the corporation other than shares held by the interested stockholder with whom or with whose affiliate the business combination is to be effected or held by an affiliate or associate of the interested stockholder.

        These super-majority vote requirements do not apply if the corporation's common stockholders receive a minimum price, as defined under Maryland law, for their shares in the form of cash or other consideration in the same form as previously paid by the interested stockholder for its shares. Maryland law also permits various exemptions from these provisions, including business combinations that are exempted by the board of directors before the time that the interested stockholder becomes an interested stockholder. The business combination statute may discourage others from trying to acquire control of us and increase the difficulty of consummating any offer.

Maryland law also limits the ability of a third party to buy a large stake in us and exercise voting power in electing directors.

        Maryland law provides a second anti-takeover statute, the Control Share Acquisition Act, which provides that "control shares" of a Maryland corporation acquired in a "control share acquisition" have no voting rights except to the extent approved by the corporation's disinterested stockholders by a vote of two-thirds of the votes entitled to be cast on the matter. Shares of stock owned by interested stockholders, that is, by the acquirer, by officers or by directors who are employees of the corporation, are excluded from the vote on whether to accord voting rights to the control shares. "Control shares" are voting shares of stock that would entitle the acquirer to exercise voting power in electing directors within specified ranges of voting power. Control shares do not include shares the acquiring person is then entitled to vote as a result of having previously obtained stockholder approval. A "control share acquisition" means the acquisition of control shares. The control share acquisition statute does not apply (1) to shares acquired in a merger, consolidation or share exchange if the corporation is a party to the transaction or (2) to acquisitions approved or exempted by a corporation's charter or bylaws. Our bylaws contain a provision exempting from the Control Share Acquisition Act any and all acquisitions by any person of shares of our stock. We can offer no assurance that this provision will not be amended or eliminated at any time in the future. This statute could have the effect of discouraging offers from third parties to acquire us and increasing the difficulty of successfully completing this type of offer by anyone other than our affiliates or any of their affiliates.

26

---

Table of Contents

Our charter includes an anti-takeover provision that may discourage a stockholder from launching a tender offer for our shares.

        Our charter provides that any tender offer made by a stockholder, including any "mini-tender" offer, must comply with most provisions of Regulation 14D of the Exchange Act. The offering stockholder must provide our company notice of such tender offer at least ten business days before initiating the tender offer. If the offering stockholder does not comply with these requirements, our company will have the right to redeem that stockholder's shares and any shares acquired in such tender offer. In addition, the non-complying stockholder shall be responsible for all of our company's expenses in connection with that stockholder's noncompliance. This provision of our charter may discourage a stockholder from initiating a tender offer for our shares and prevent you from receiving a premium price for your shares in such a transaction.

Your investment return may be reduced if we are required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act; if we or our subsidiaries become an unregistered investment company, we could not continue our business.

        Neither we nor any of our subsidiaries intend to register as investment companies under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "Investment Company Act"). If we or any of our subsidiaries were obligated to register as investment companies, we would have to comply with a variety of substantive requirements under the Investment Company Act that impose, among other things:

•

limitations on capital structure;



•

restrictions on specified investments;



•

prohibitions on transactions with affiliates; and



•

compliance with reporting, record keeping, voting, proxy disclosure and other rules and regulations that would significantly increase our operating expenses.

        Under the relevant provisions of Section 3(a)(1) of the Investment Company Act, we will not be deemed to be an "investment company" if:

•

we are not engaged primarily, nor do we hold ourselves out as being engaged primarily, nor propose to engage primarily, in the business of investing, reinvesting or trading in securities (the "Primarily Engaged Test"); and



•

we are not engaged and do not propose to engage in the business of investing, reinvesting, owning, holding or trading in securities and do not own or propose to acquire "investment securities" having a value exceeding 40% of the value of our total assets on an unconsolidated basis (the "40% Test"). "Investment securities" excludes U.S. government securities and securities of majority owned subsidiaries that are not themselves investment companies and are not relying on the exception from the definition of investment company under Section 3(c)(1) or Section 3(c)(7) (relating to private investment companies).

        We believe that we and our operating partnership satisfy both tests above. With respect to the 40% Test, most of the entities through which we and our operating partnership own our assets are majority owned subsidiaries that are not themselves investment companies and are not relying on the exceptions from the definition of investment company under Section 3(c)(1) or Section 3(c)(7).

        With respect to the Primarily Engaged Test, we and our operating partnership are holding companies and do not intend to invest or trade in securities ourselves. Rather, through the majority owned subsidiaries of our operating partnership, we and our operating partnership are primarily engaged in the non-investment company businesses of these subsidiaries.

27

---

Table of Contents

        We believe that most of the subsidiaries of our operating partnership may rely on Section 3(c)(5)(C) of the Investment Company Act for an exception from the definition of an investment company. (Any other subsidiaries of our operating partnership should be able to rely on the exceptions for private investment companies pursuant to Section 3(c)(1) and Section 3(c)(7) of the Investment Company Act.) The SEC staff's position on Section 3(c)(5)(C) generally requires that an issuer maintain at least 55% of its assets in "mortgages and other liens on and interests in real estate" ("Qualifying Assets"); at least 80% of its assets in Qualifying Assets plus real estate-related assets ("Real Estate-Related Assets"); and no more than 20% of the value of its assets in other than Qualifying Assets and Real Estate-Related Assets ("Miscellaneous Assets"). To constitute a Qualifying Asset under this 55% requirement, a real estate interest must meet various criteria; therefore, certain of our subsidiaries are limited with respect to the value and nature of the assets that they may own at any given time.

        If, however, the value of the subsidiaries of our operating partnership that must rely on Section 3(c)(1) or Section 3(c)(7) is greater than 40% of the value of the assets of our operating partnership, then we and operating partnership may seek to rely on the exception from registration under Section 3(c)(6) if we and our operating partnership are "primarily engaged," through majority owned subsidiaries, in the business of purchasing or otherwise acquiring mortgages and other interests in real estate. Although the SEC staff has issued little interpretive guidance with respect to Section 3(c)(6), we believe that we and our operating partnership may rely on Section 3(c)(6) if 55% of the assets of our operating partnership consist of, and at least 55% of the income of our operating partnership is derived from, majority owned subsidiaries that rely on Section 3(c)(5)(C).

        To maintain compliance with the Investment Company Act, our subsidiaries may be unable to sell assets we would otherwise want them to sell and may need to sell assets we would otherwise wish them to retain. In addition, our subsidiaries may have to acquire additional assets that they might not otherwise have acquired or may have to forego opportunities to make investments that we would otherwise want them to make and would be important to our investment strategy. Moreover, SEC staff interpretations with respect to various types of assets are subject to change, which increases the risk of non-compliance and the risk that we may be forced to make adverse changes to our portfolio.

        If we were required to register as an investment company but failed to do so, we would be prohibited from engaging in our business and criminal and civil actions could be brought against us. In addition, our contracts would be unenforceable unless a court required enforcement and a court could appoint a receiver to take control of us and liquidate our business.

Rapid changes in the values of potential investments in commercial mortgage-backed securities ("CMBS") or other real estate-related investments may make it more difficult for us to maintain our qualification as a REIT or exception from the Investment Company Act.

        If the market value or income potential of our real estate-related investments, including potential investments in CMBS, declines as a result of increased interest rates, prepayment rates or other factors, we may need to increase our real estate investments and income and/or liquidate our non-qualifying assets in order to maintain our REIT qualification or our exception from registration under the Investment Company Act. If the decline in real estate asset values and/or income occurs quickly, this may be especially difficult to accomplish. This difficulty may be exacerbated by the illiquid nature of any non-real estate assets that we may own. We may have to make investment decisions that we otherwise would not make absent REIT and Investment Company Act considerations.

28

---

Table of Contents

Stockholders have limited control over changes in our policies and operations.

        Our board of directors determines our major policies, including our policies regarding financing, growth, debt capitalization, REIT qualification and distributions. Our board of directors may amend or revise these and other policies without a vote of the stockholders. Our charter sets forth the stockholder voting rights required to be set forth therein under the Statement of Policy Regarding Real Estate Investment Trusts adopted by the North American Securities Administrators Association on May 7, 2007 (the "NASAA REIT Guidelines"). Under our charter and the Maryland General Corporation Law, our stockholders currently have a right to vote only on the following matters:

•

the election or removal of directors;



•

any amendment of our charter, except those that our board of directors may amend without stockholder approval to:



•

change our name;



•

increase or decrease the aggregate number of our shares;



•

increase or decrease the number of our shares of any class or series that we have the authority to issue;



•

classify or reclassify any unissued shares by setting or changing the preferences, conversion or other rights, restrictions, limitations as to distributions, qualifications or terms and conditions of redemption of such shares;



•

effect reverse stock splits; and



•

after the listing of our shares of common stock on a national securities exchange, opting into any of the provisions of Subtitle 8 of Title 3 of the Maryland General Corporation Law;



•

a reorganization as provided in our charter;



•

our liquidation and dissolution; and



•

our being a party to any merger, consolidation, sale or other disposition of substantially all of our assets (notwithstanding that Maryland law may not require stockholder approval).

        All other matters are subject to the discretion of our board of directors.

Our board of directors may change our investment policies and objectives generally and at the individual investment level without stockholder approval, which could alter the nature of your investment.

        Our charter requires that our independent directors review our investment policies with sufficient frequency and at least annually to determine that the policies we are following are in the best interest of the stockholders. In addition to our investment policies and objectives, we may also change our stated strategy for any investment in an individual property. These policies may change over time. The methods of implementing our investment policies may also vary, as new investment techniques are developed. Our investment policies, the methods for their implementation, and our other objectives, policies and procedures may be altered by our board of directors without the approval of our stockholders. As a result, the nature of your investment could change without your consent.

You may not be able to sell your shares under the share redemption program and, if you are able to sell your shares under the program, you may not be able to recover the amount of your investment in our shares.

        Our board of directors approved the share redemption program, but may amend, suspend or terminate the share redemption program at any time. Our board of directors may reject any request for

29

---

Table of Contents

redemption of shares. Further, there are many limitations on your ability to sell your shares pursuant to the share redemption program. Any stockholder requesting repurchase of their shares pursuant to our share redemption program will be required to certify to us that such stockholder either (1) acquired the shares requested to be repurchased directly from us, or (2) acquired the shares from the original investor by way of a bona fide gift not for value to, or for the benefit of, a member of the stockholder's immediate or extended family, or through a transfer to a custodian, trustee or other fiduciary for the account of the stockholder or his or her immediate or extended family in connection with an estate planning transaction, including by bequest or inheritance upon death or operation of law.

        In addition, our share redemption program contains other restrictions and limitations. We cannot guarantee that we will accommodate all redemption requests made in any particular redemption period. If we do not redeem all shares presented for redemption during any period in which we are redeeming shares, then all shares will be redeemed on a pro rata basis during the relevant period. You must hold your shares for at least one year prior to seeking redemption under the share redemption program, except that our board of directors will waive this one-year holding requirement with respect to redemptions sought upon the death or qualifying disability of a stockholder or redemptions sought upon a stockholder's confinement to a long-term care facility. Our board of directors may also waive this one-year holding requirement for other exigent circumstances affecting a stockholder such as bankruptcy or a mandatory distribution requirement under a stockholder's IRA or with respect to shares purchased through our distribution reinvestment plan. We will not redeem, during any twelve-month period, more than 5% of the weighted average number of shares outstanding during the twelve-month period immediately prior to the date of redemption. Generally, the cash available for redemption on any particular date will be limited to the proceeds from our distribution reinvestment plan during the period consisting of the preceding four fiscal quarters for which financial statements are available, less any cash already used for redemptions during the same period, plus, if we had positive operating cash flow during such preceding four fiscal quarters, 1% of all operating cash flow during such preceding four fiscal quarters.

        Further, our board of directors reserves the right to reject any request for redemption or to terminate, suspend, or amend the share redemption program at any time. Therefore, in making a decision to purchase shares of our common stock, you should not assume that you will be able to sell any of your shares back to us pursuant to our share redemption program.

If you are able to resell your shares to us pursuant to our share redemption program, you will likely receive substantially less than the amount paid to acquire the shares from us or the fair market value of your shares, depending upon how long you owned the shares.

        Except for redemptions sought upon a stockholder's death or qualifying disability or redemptions sought upon a stockholder's confinement to a long-term care facility, the purchase price per share redeemed under our share redemption program will equal 90% of (i) the most recently disclosed estimated value per share as determined in accordance with our valuation policy, less (ii) the aggregate distributions per share of any net sale proceeds from the sale of one or more of our assets, or other special distributions so designated by our board of directors, distributed to stockholders after the valuation was determined; provided, however, that the purchase price per share shall not exceed: (1) prior to the first valuation conducted by the board of directors, or a committee thereof (the "Initial Board Valuation"), under the valuation policy, 90% of (i) the average price per share the original purchaser or purchasers of shares paid to us for all of his or her shares (as adjusted for any stock dividends, combinations, splits, recapitalizations and the like with respect to our common stock), less (ii) the aggregate distributions per share of any net sale proceeds from the sale of one or more of our assets, or other special distributions so designated by the board of directors, distributed to stockholders prior to the redemption date (the "Special Distributions"); or (2) on or after the Initial Board Valuation, the average price per share the original purchaser or purchasers of shares paid to us for all

30

---

Table of Contents

of his or her shares (as adjusted for any stock dividends, combinations, splits, recapitalizations and the like with respect to our common stock) less any Special Distributions. Accordingly, you may receive less by selling your shares back to us than you would receive if our investments were sold for their estimated values and such proceeds were distributed in our liquidation.

We may not successfully implement our exit strategy, in which case you may have to hold your investment for an indefinite period.

        Depending upon then-prevailing market conditions, we intend to begin to consider the process of liquidating and distributing cash or listing our shares on a national securities exchange within four to six years after the termination of this primary offering. If we have not begun the process to list our shares for trading on a national securities exchange or to liquidate at any time after the sixth anniversary of the termination of this primary offering, unless such date is extended by our board of directors including a majority of our independent directors, we will furnish a proxy statement to stockholders to vote on a proposal for our orderly liquidation upon the written request of stockholders owning 10% or more of our outstanding common stock. The liquidation proposal would include information regarding appraisals of our portfolio. By proxy, stockholders holding a majority of our shares could vote to approve our liquidation. If our stockholders did not approve the liquidation proposal, we would obtain new appraisals and resubmit the proposal by proxy statement to our stockholders up to once every two years upon the written request of stockholders owning 10% or more of our outstanding common stock.

        Market conditions and other factors could cause us to delay the listing of our shares on a national securities exchange or to delay the commencement of our liquidation beyond six years from the termination of this primary offering. If so, our board of directors and our independent directors may conclude that it is not in our best interest for us to furnish a proxy statement to stockholders for the purpose of voting on a proposal for our orderly liquidation. Our charter permits our board of directors, with the concurrence of a majority of our independent directors, to defer the furnishing of such a proxy indefinitely. Therefore, if we are not successful in implementing our exit strategy, your shares will continue to be illiquid and you may, for an indefinite period of time, be unable to convert your investment into cash easily and could suffer losses on your investment.

We may incur costs associated with changing our name if we are no longer permitted to use "Behringer Harvard" in our name.

        We entered into a service mark license agreement with Behringer Harvard Holdings for use of the name "Behringer Harvard." Pursuant to the agreement, when an affiliate of Behringer Harvard Holdings no longer serves as one of our officers or directors, Behringer Harvard Holdings may terminate our service mark license agreement and may require us to change our name to eliminate the use of the words "Behringer Harvard." We will be required to pay any costs associated with changing our name.

We established the offering price for the shares on an arbitrary basis; as a result, the offering price of the shares is not related to any independent valuation.

        Our board of directors arbitrarily set the offering price of our shares of common stock for this offering, and this price bears no relationship to the book or net value of our assets or to our expected operating income. We have adopted a valuation policy in respect of estimating the per share value of our common stock and expect to disclose such estimated value annually, but this estimated value is subject to significant limitations. Until 18 months have passed without a sale in an offering of our common stock (or other securities from which the board of directors believes the value of a share of common stock can be estimated), not including any offering related to a distribution reinvestment plan, employee benefit plan or the redemption of interests in our operating partnership, we generally will use

31

---

Table of Contents

the gross offering price of a share of the common stock in our most recent offering as the per share estimated value thereof or, with respect to an offering of other securities from which the value of a share of common stock can be estimated, the value derived from the gross offering price of the other security as the per share estimated value of the common stock. This estimated value is not likely to reflect the proceeds you would receive upon our liquidation or upon the sale of your shares. In addition, this per share valuation method is not designed to arrive at a valuation that is related to any individual or aggregated value estimates or appraisals of the value of our assets.

Because the dealer manager is an affiliate of our advisor, investors will not have the benefit of an independent review of us or this offering, which are customarily performed in underwritten offerings.

        The dealer manager, Behringer Securities, is an affiliate of our advisor and will not make an independent review of us or the offering. Accordingly, you do not have the benefit of an independent review of the terms of this offering. Further, the due diligence investigation of us by the dealer manager cannot be considered to be an independent review and, therefore, may not be as meaningful as a review conducted by a broker-dealer or investment banker unaffiliated with our advisor.

Your indirect interest in our operating partnership, Behringer Harvard Multifamily OP I, will be diluted if we or our operating partnership issues additional securities.

        Existing stockholders and new investors purchasing shares of common stock in this offering do not have preemptive rights to any shares issued by us in the future. Our charter currently has authorized 1,000,000,000 shares of capital stock, of which 875,000,000 shares are designated as common stock, 124,999,000 shares are designated as preferred stock and 1,000 shares are designated as convertible stock. Subject to any limitations set forth under Maryland law, our board of directors may amend our charter to increase the number of authorized shares of capital stock, or increase or decrease the number of shares of any class or series of stock designated, and may classify or reclassify any unissued shares without the necessity of obtaining stockholder approval. Shares will be issued at the discretion of our board of directors. Investors purchasing shares in this offering will likely experience dilution of their equity investment in us in the event that we: (1) sell shares in this offering or sell additional shares in the future, including those issued pursuant to the distribution reinvestment plan; (2) sell securities that are convertible into shares of our common stock; (3) issue shares of our common stock in a private offering of securities to institutional investors; (4) issue shares of common stock upon the conversion of our convertible stock; (5) issue shares of common stock upon the exercise of any options granted to our independent directors or employees of our advisor and Behringer Harvard Multifamily Management Services, LLC, our property manager and an affiliate of our advisor, or their duly licensed affiliates; (6) issue restricted stock or other awards pursuant to our Incentive Award Plan; (7) issue shares to our advisor, its successors or assigns, in payment of an outstanding fee obligation as set forth under our advisory management agreement; or (8) issue shares of our common stock to sellers of properties acquired by us in connection with an exchange of limited partnership interests of Behringer Harvard Multifamily OP I. In addition, the partnership agreement for Behringer Harvard Multifamily OP I contains provisions that allow, under certain circumstances, other entities, including other Behringer Harvard-sponsored programs, to merge into or cause the exchange or conversion of their interest for interests of Behringer Harvard Multifamily OP I. Because the limited partnership interests of Behringer Harvard Multifamily OP I may be exchanged for shares of our common stock, any merger, exchange or conversion between Behringer Harvard Multifamily OP I and another entity ultimately could result in the issuance of a substantial number of shares of our common stock, thereby diluting the percentage ownership interest of other stockholders. Because of these and other reasons described in this "Risk Factors" section, you should not expect to be able to own a significant percentage of our shares.

32

---

Table of Contents

Payment of fees to our advisor and its affiliates will reduce cash available to us for investment and payment of distributions.

        Our advisor and its affiliates will perform services for us in connection with, among other things, the offer and sale of our shares, the selection and acquisition of our properties and real estate-related assets, the management of our properties, the servicing of our mortgage, bridge, mezzanine or other loans, the administration of our other investments and the disposition of our assets. They will be paid substantial fees for these services. These fees will reduce the amount of cash available for investment or distributions to stockholders.

We may be restricted in our ability to replace our property manager under certain circumstances.

        Under the terms of our property management agreement, we may terminate the agreement upon 30 days' notice in the event of, and only in the event of, a showing of willful misconduct, gross negligence or deliberate malfeasance by the property manager in performing its duties. Our board of directors may find the performance of our property manager to be unsatisfactory. However, unsatisfactory performance by the property manager may not constitute "willful misconduct, gross negligence or deliberate malfeasance." As a result, we may be unable to terminate the property management agreement at the desired time, which may have an adverse effect on the management and profitability of our properties.

Distributions may be paid from capital and there can be no assurance that we will be able to achieve expected cash flows necessary to continue to pay initially established distributions or maintain distributions at any particular level, or at all.

        There are many factors that can affect the availability and timing of cash distributions to stockholders. Distributions generally will be based upon such factors as the amount of cash available or anticipated to be available from real estate investments, mortgage, bridge or mezzanine loans and other investments, current and projected cash requirements and tax considerations. Because we may receive income from interest or rents at various times during our fiscal year, distributions paid may not reflect our income earned in that particular distribution period. The amount of cash available for distributions will be affected by many factors, such as our ability to acquire properties and real estate-related assets as offering proceeds become available, the income from those investments and yields on securities of other real estate programs that we invest in, as well as our operating expense levels and many other variables. Actual cash available for distribution may vary substantially from estimates. We can give no assurance that we will be able to achieve our anticipated cash flow or that distributions will increase over time. Nor can we give any assurance that: (1) rents from the properties will increase; (2) the securities we buy will increase in value or provide constant or increased distributions over time; (3) the loans we make will be repaid or paid on time; (4) loans will generate the interest payments that we expect; or (5) future acquisitions of properties, mortgage, bridge or mezzanine loans, other investments or our investments in securities will increase our cash available for distributions to stockholders. Our actual results may differ significantly from the assumptions used by our board of directors in establishing the distribution rates to stockholders.

        Many of the factors that can affect the availability and timing of cash distributions to stockholders are beyond our control, and a change in any one factor could adversely affect our ability to pay future distributions. For instance:

•

If a significant number of multifamily residents default or terminate on their leases, there could be a decrease or cessation of rental payments, which would mean less cash available for distributions.



•

Any failure by a borrower under our mortgage, bridge, mezzanine or other loans to repay the loans or interest on the loans will reduce our income and distributions to stockholders.

33

---

Table of Contents

•

Cash available for distributions may be reduced if we are required to spend money to correct defects or to make improvements to properties.



•

Cash available to make distributions may decrease if the assets we acquire have lower yields than expected.



•

There may be a delay between the sale of the common stock and our purchase of real properties. During that time, we may invest in lower yielding short-term instruments, which could result in a lower yield on your investment.



•

If we lend money to others, such funds may not be repaid in accordance with the loan terms or at all, which could reduce cash available for distributions.



•

Federal income tax laws require REITs to distribute at least 90% of their REIT taxable income to stockholders each year to maintain REIT status and 100% of taxable income and net capital gain to avoid federal income tax. This limits the earnings that we may retain for corporate growth, such as asset acquisition, development or expansion and makes us more dependent upon additional debt or equity financing than corporations that are not REITs. If we borrow more funds in the future, more of our operating cash will be needed to make debt payments and cash available for distributions may decrease.



•

In connection with future acquisitions, we may issue additional shares of common stock, operating partnership units or interests in other entities that own our properties. We cannot predict the number of shares of common stock, units or interests that we may issue, or the effect that these additional shares might have on cash available for distribution to you. If we issue additional shares, they could reduce the cash available for distribution to you.



•

We make distributions to our stockholders to comply with the distribution requirements of the Code and to eliminate, or at least minimize, exposure to federal income taxes and the nondeductible REIT excise tax. Differences in timing between the receipt of income and the payment of expenses, and the effect of required debt payments, could require us to borrow funds on a short-term basis to meet the distribution requirements that are necessary to achieve the tax benefits associated with qualifying as a REIT.

        In addition, our board of directors, at its discretion, may retain any portion of our cash on hand for capital needs and improvements. We cannot assure you that sufficient cash will be available to make distributions to you.

Until proceeds from this offering are invested and generating operating cash flow from operating activities sufficient to make distributions to our stockholders, we have and may continue to make some or all of our distributions from sources other than cash flow from operating activities, including the proceeds of this offering, cash advanced to us by our advisor, cash resulting from a deferral of asset management fees and/or from borrowings (including borrowings secured by our assets) in anticipation of future cash flow from operating activities, which may reduce the amount of capital we ultimately invest and negatively impact the return on your investment and the value of your investment.

        We expect that cash distributions to our stockholders generally will be paid from cash available or anticipated from the cash flow from our investments in properties, real estate securities, mortgage, bridge or mezzanine loans and other real estate-related assets. However, until proceeds from this offering are invested and generating operating cash flow sufficient to make distributions to our stockholders, we have and may continue to make some or all of our distributions from the proceeds of this offering, cash advanced to us by our advisor, cash resulting from a waiver or deferral of asset management fees, cash from the sale of our assets or a portion thereof and borrowings (including borrowings secured by our assets) in anticipation of future cash flow. In addition, to the extent our investments are in development or redevelopment projects, in communities that are in lease-up or have

34

---

Table of Contents

not yet reached stabilization, or in properties that have significant capital requirements, our ability to make distributions may be negatively impacted, especially during our early period of operation. As our investments that are currently in development, are in lease-up or have not yet reached stabilization progress towards stabilization and generate more income, we intend to use such increased income to make distributions to our stockholders. Accordingly, the amount of distributions paid at any time may not reflect current cash flow from our operations. To the extent distributions are paid from the proceeds of this offering (including distributions funded through the issuance of shares pursuant to our distribution reinvestment program), cash advanced to us by our advisor, cash resulting from a deferral of asset management fees and/or from borrowings (including borrowings secured by our assets) in anticipation of future cash flow, we will have less capital available to invest in properties and other real estate-related assets, which may negatively impact our ability to make investments and substantially reduce current returns and capital appreciation. In that event, we may not be able to use 91.1% of the gross proceeds raised in this offering (89.0% with respect to gross proceeds from our primary offering and 100% with respect to gross proceeds from our distribution reinvestment plan) for investment in real estate, loans and other investments, paying acquisition fees and expenses incurred in making such investments and for any capital reserves we may establish until such time as we have sufficient cash flows from operations to fully fund our distributions.

Our revenue and net income may vary significantly from one period to another due to investments in opportunity-oriented properties and portfolio acquisitions, which could increase the variability of our cash available for distributions.

        We have made and may continue to make investments in opportunity-oriented properties in various phases of development, redevelopment or repositioning and portfolio acquisitions, which may cause our revenues and net income to fluctuate significantly from one period to another. Projects do not produce revenue while in development or redevelopment. During any period when our projects in development or redevelopment or those with significant capital requirements increase without a corresponding increase in stable revenue-producing properties, our revenues and net income will likely decrease. Many factors may have a negative impact on the level of revenues or net income produced by our portfolio of investments, including higher than expected construction costs, failure to complete projects on a timely basis, failure of the properties to perform at expected levels upon completion of development or redevelopment, and increased borrowings necessary to fund higher than expected construction or other costs related to the project. Further, our net income and stockholders' equity could be negatively affected during periods with large portfolio acquisitions, which generally require large cash outlays and may require the incurrence of additional financing. Any such reduction in our revenues and net income during such periods could cause a resulting decrease in our cash available for distributions during the same periods.

Development projects in which we invest may not be completed successfully or on time, and guarantors of the projects may not have the financial resources to perform their obligations under the guaranties they provide.

        We may make equity investments in, acquire options to purchase interests in or make mezzanine loans to the owners of real estate development projects. Our return on these investments is dependent upon the projects being completed successfully, on budget and on time. To help ensure performance by the developers of properties that are under construction, completion of these properties is generally guaranteed either by a completion bond or performance bond. Our advisor may rely upon the substantial net worth of the contractor or developer or a personal guarantee accompanied by financial statements showing a substantial net worth provided by an affiliate of the entity entering into the construction or development contract as an alternative to a completion bond or performance bond. For a particular investment, we may obtain guaranties that the project will be completed on time, on budget and in accordance with the plans and specifications and that the mezzanine loan will be repaid. However, we may not obtain such guaranties and cannot ensure that the guarantors will have the

35

---

Table of Contents

financial resources to perform their obligations under the guaranties they provide. We intend to manage these risks by ensuring, to the best of our ability, that we invest in projects with reputable, experienced and resourceful developers. If we are unable to manage these risks effectively, our results of operations, financial condition and ability to make distributions to you will be adversely affected.

        Recent credit market disruptions and economic trends have caused an increase in developer failures. The developers of the projects in which we have invested are exposed to risks not only with respect to our projects, but also with respect to other projects in which they are involved. A developer's obligations on another project could cause it financial hardship and even lead to bankruptcy, which could lead to a default on one of our projects. A default by a developer in respect of one of our multifamily development project investments, or the bankruptcy, insolvency or other failure of a developer for one of such projects, may require that we determine whether we want to assume the senior loan, take over development of the project, find another developer for the project, or sell our interest in the project. Such developer failures could delay efforts to complete or sell the development project and could ultimately preclude us from full realization of our anticipated returns. Such events could cause a decrease in the value of our assets and compel us to seek additional sources of liquidity, which may not be available, in order to hold and complete the development project through stabilization.

        Generally, under bankruptcy law and our bankruptcy guarantees with our joint venture development partners, we may seek recourse from the developer-guarantor to complete our development project with a substitute developer partner. However, in the event of a bankruptcy by the developer-guarantor, we cannot assure you that the developer or its trustee will continue or otherwise satisfy its obligations. The bankruptcy of any developer and the rejection of its development obligations would likely cause us to have to complete the development on our own or find a replacement developer, which could result in delays and increased costs. We cannot assure you that we would be able to complete the development on terms as favorable as when we first entered into the project.

Under certain circumstances, assets owned by a subsidiary REIT may be required to be disposed of via a sale of capital stock rather than an asset sale.

        Under certain circumstances, assets owned by a subsidiary REIT may be required to be disposed of via a sale of capital stock rather than as asset sale by that subsidiary REIT, which may limit the number of persons willing to acquire indirectly any assets held by that subsidiary REIT. As a result, we may not be able to realize a return on our investment in a joint venture, such as a BHMP CO-JV with our BHMP CO-Investment Partner, at the time or on the terms we desire.

The failure of any bank in which we deposit our funds could reduce the amount of cash we have available to pay distributions and make additional investments.

        We invest our cash and cash equivalents between several banking institutions in an attempt to minimize exposure to any one of these entities. However, the FDIC generally only insures limited amounts per depositor per insured bank. As of March 31, 2010, we had cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash deposited in interest bearing transaction accounts at certain financial institutions exceeding these federally insured levels. If any of the banking institutions in which we have deposited funds ultimately fails, we may lose our deposits over the federally insured levels. The loss of our deposits could reduce the amount of cash we have available to distribute or invest.

36

---

Table of Contents

We have invested in development projects that rely on senior financings and, as a result, may be adversely impacted by the failure of a financial institution to honor its lending obligations.

        Through our BHMP CO-JVs, we have made subordinate debt and equity investments in certain Property Entities that are developing high quality multifamily communities. These Property Entities usually borrow money at the senior loan level from a chartered financial institution and at the mezzanine loan level from our BHMP CO-JVs to finance the development activities. As a result of the recent and continuing economic slowdown and financial market disruptions, certain financial institutions have become insolvent or been served with cease and desist orders or other administrative actions by federal bank regulators, such as the FDIC or Office of Thrift Supervision ("OTS"), due to a lack of required capital. Some of these senior lenders may become insolvent, enter into receivership or otherwise become unable to fulfill their respective financial obligations to the Property Entities that are developing the multifamily communities in which we have invested. Should a senior lender fail to meet its funding obligations, the development project could suffer from significant delays and additional expenses, which could adversely impact our investment in such project. As we and our affiliates are not parties to the senior loans, we will be unable to take direct action against these senior lenders to compel them to honor their financial obligations. Furthermore, if a senior lender becomes insolvent or enters into receivership, or if other regulatory action is taken against it, we may not be able to enforce our rights under the applicable intercreditor agreement to cure defaults by the borrower under the senior loan or to purchase the senior loan in the event of default by the borrower.

        In addition, completion guarantees provided to our BHMP CO-JVs by developers in connection with our mezzanine loans for certain projects may be suspended if the senior lender stops funding the senior loan, provided that the developer is using commercially reasonable and diligent efforts to cause the senior lender to make the proceeds available or obtain proceeds from a refinancing of the senior loan. However, obtaining a refinancing in the current economic environment may be difficult or impossible.

We and the other public Behringer Harvard-sponsored programs have experienced losses in the past, and we may experience similar losses in the future.

        Historically, the public programs sponsored by affiliates of our advisor have experienced losses during the early periods of their operation. Many of these losses can be attributed to the initial start-up costs and operating expenses incurred prior to purchasing properties or making other investments that generate revenue. In addition, depreciation and amortization expenses substantially reduce income. We may face similar circumstances during the early period of our operations. As a result, we cannot assure you that, in the future, we will be profitable or that we will realize growth in the value of our assets.

We are uncertain of our sources for funding of future capital needs, which could adversely affect the value of our investments.

        Substantially all of the proceeds of this offering will be used to make investments in real estate and real estate-related assets and to pay various fees and expenses related to the offering. We will establish capital reserves on a property-by-property basis, as we deem appropriate. In addition to any reserves we establish, a lender may require escrow of capital reserves in excess of our established reserves. If these reserves are insufficient to meet our cash needs, we may have to obtain financing from either affiliated or unaffiliated sources to fund our cash requirements. Accordingly, in the event that we develop a need for additional capital in the future for the improvement of our properties or for any other reason, we have not identified any sources for such funding, and we cannot assure you that such sources of funding will be available to us for potential capital needs in the future.

37

---

Table of Contents

To hedge against exchange rate and interest rate fluctuations, we may use derivative financial instruments that may be costly and ineffective and may reduce the overall returns on your investment and affect cash available for distribution to our stockholders.

        We may use derivative financial instruments to hedge exposures to changes in exchange rates and interest rates on loans secured by our assets and investments in collateralized mortgage-backed securities. Derivative instruments may include interest rate swap contracts, interest rate cap or floor contracts, futures or forward contracts, options or repurchase agreements. Our actual hedging decisions are determined in light of the facts and circumstances existing at the time of the hedge and may differ from time to time. Our hedging may fail to protect or could adversely affect us because, among other things:

•

interest rate hedging can be expensive, particularly during periods of rising and volatile interest rates;



•

available interest rate hedging may not correspond directly with the interest rate risk for which protection is sought;



•

the duration of the hedge may not match the duration of the related liability or asset;



•

the amount of income that a REIT may earn from hedging transactions to offset interest rate losses is limited by federal tax provisions governing REITs;



•

the credit quality of the party owing money on the hedge may be downgraded to such an extent that it impairs our ability to sell or assign our side of the hedging transaction;



•

the party owing money in the hedging transaction may default on its obligation to pay; and



•

we may purchase a hedge that turns out not to be necessary, i.e., a hedge that is out of the money.

        Any hedging activity we engage in may adversely affect our earnings, which could adversely affect cash available for distribution to our stockholders. Therefore, while we may enter into such transactions to seek to reduce interest rate risks, unanticipated changes in interest rates may result in poorer overall investment performance than if we had not engaged in any such hedging transactions. In addition, the degree of correlation between price movements of the instruments used in a hedging strategy and price movements in the portfolio positions being hedged or liabilities being hedged may vary materially. Moreover, for a variety of reasons, we may not seek to establish a perfect correlation between such hedging instruments and the portfolio holdings being hedged. Any such imperfect correlation may prevent us from achieving the intended accounting treatment and may expose us to risk of loss.

        To the extent that we use derivative financial instruments to hedge against exchange rate and interest rate fluctuations, we will be exposed to credit risk, basis risk and legal enforceability risks. In this context, credit risk is the failure of the counterparty to perform under the terms of the derivative contract. If the fair value of a derivative contract is positive, the counterparty owes us, which creates credit risk for us. We intend to manage credit risk by dealing only with major financial institutions that have high credit ratings. Basis risk occurs when the index upon which the contract is based is more or less variable than the index upon which the hedged asset or liability is based, thereby making the hedge less effective. We intend to manage basis risk by matching, to a reasonable extent, the contract index to the index upon which the hedged asset or liability is based. Finally, legal enforceability risks encompass general contractual risks, including the risk that the counterparty will breach the terms of, or fail to perform its obligations under, the derivative contract. We intend to manage legal enforceability risks by ensuring, to the best of our ability, that we contract with reputable counterparties and that each counterparty complies with the terms and conditions of the derivative contract. If we are unable to manage these risks effectively, our results of operations, financial condition and ability to make distributions to you will be adversely affected.

38

---

Table of Contents

Hedging instruments often are not traded on regulated exchanges, guaranteed by an exchange or its clearing house, or regulated by any U.S. or foreign governmental authorities and involve risks and costs.

        The cost of using hedging instruments increases as the period covered by the instrument increases and during periods of rising and volatile interest rates. We may increase our hedging activity and thus increase our hedging costs during periods when interest rates are volatile or rising and hedging costs have increased. In addition, hedging instruments involve risk since they often are not traded on regulated exchanges, guaranteed by an exchange or its clearing house, or regulated by any U.S. or foreign governmental authorities. Consequently, there are no requirements with respect to record keeping, financial responsibility or segregation of customer funds and positions. Furthermore, the enforceability of agreements underlying derivative transactions may depend on compliance with applicable statutory, commodity and other regulatory requirements and, depending on the identity of the counterparty, applicable international requirements. The business failure of a hedging counterparty with whom we enter into a hedging transaction will most likely result in a default. Default by a party with whom we enter into a hedging transaction may result in the loss of unrealized profits and force us to cover our resale commitments, if any, at the then current market price. Although generally we will seek to reserve the right to terminate our hedging positions, it may not always be possible to dispose of or close out a hedging position without the consent of the hedging counterparty, and we may not be able to enter into an offsetting contract in order to cover our risk. We cannot be certain that a liquid secondary market will exist for hedging instruments purchased or sold, and we may be required to maintain a position until exercise or expiration, which could result in losses.

Complying with REIT requirements may limit our ability to hedge effectively.

        The REIT provisions of the Code may limit our ability to hedge our assets and operations. Under these provisions, any income that we generate from transactions intended to hedge our interest rate, inflation and/or currency risks will be excluded from gross income for purposes of the REIT 75.0% and 95.0% gross income tests if the instrument hedges (1) interest rate risk on liabilities incurred to carry or acquire real estate or (2) risk of currency fluctuations with respect to any item of income or gain that would be qualifying income under the REIT 75.0% or 95.0% gross income tests, and such instrument is properly identified under applicable Treasury Regulations. Income from hedging transactions that do not meet these requirements will generally constitute nonqualifying income for purposes of both the REIT 75.0% and 95.0% gross income tests. As a result of these rules, we may have to limit our use of hedging techniques that might otherwise be advantageous, which could result in greater risks associated with interest rate or other changes than we would otherwise incur.

General Risks Related to Investments in Real Estate

Recent and ongoing global economic concerns may adversely affect our operating results and financial condition.

        During 2008 and 2009, significant and widespread concerns about credit risk and access to capital have been present in the global financial markets. Economies throughout the world have experienced substantially increased unemployment, sagging consumer confidence and a downturn in economic activity. In addition, the failure (and near failure) of several large financial institutions and the failures and expectations of additional failures of smaller financial institutions has led to increased levels of uncertainty and volatility in the financial markets and a continued skepticism in the general business climate. To the extent that turmoil in the financial markets continues or intensifies, it has the potential to materially affect:

1.

the value of our investments and the investments of our unconsolidated joint ventures;

39

---

Table of Contents

2.

the availability or the terms of financing that we and our unconsolidated joint ventures may anticipate utilizing or that may be utilized by the owners of the multifamily development projects in which we are an equity owner or junior lender or both;



3.

our ability and the entities in which we have invested to make principal and interest payments on, or refinance, any outstanding debt when due; and



4.

the ability of our current residents to enter into new leases or satisfy their current rental payment obligations under existing leases and the ability of future residents to enter into leases during the lease-up stage of newly completed multifamily development projects.

        Market disruptions could also affect our operating results and financial condition as follows:

        Debt and Equity Markets.    The commercial real estate debt markets have recently experienced volatility as a result of certain factors, including the tightening of underwriting standards by lenders and credit rating agencies and the significant inventory of unsold collateralized mortgage backed securities in the market. Credit spreads for major sources of capital widened significantly as investors demanded a higher risk premium. This resulted in lenders increasing the cost for debt financing. Should the overall cost of borrowings continue to increase, either by increases in the index rates or by increases in lender spreads, we will need to factor such increases into the economics of our acquisitions, developments and property contributions. This may result in our investment operations generating lower overall economic returns and a reduced level of cash flow, which could potentially impact our ability to make distributions to our stockholders at current levels. In addition, the recent dislocations in the debt markets have reduced the amount of capital that is available to finance real estate, which, in turn: (1) has led to a decline in real estate values generally; (2) slowed real estate transaction activity; (3) reduced the loan to value upon which lenders are willing to extend debt; and (4) resulted in difficulty in refinancing debt as it becomes due. A continuation of this trend may reasonably be expected to have a material adverse impact on the value of real estate investments and the revenues, income or cash flow from the acquisition and operations of real properties and mortgage loans. In addition, the recent turmoil in the debt markets has negatively impacted the ability to raise equity capital.

        If we or the projects in which we have invested are unable to obtain debt financing on acceptable terms, or if lower levels of debt were available to us in respect of our investments whether as a result of declining real estate values or lower loan to value standards of lenders, or both, we may be forced to use a greater proportion of our offering proceeds to fund additional equity to our existing investments and to finance our acquisitions, reducing the number of investments we could otherwise make or dispose of some of our assets. If the current debt market environment persists, we may modify our investment strategies in order to seek to optimize our portfolio performance. Our strategies may include, among other options, limiting or eliminating the use of debt and focusing on those investments that do not require the use of leverage to meet our portfolio goals. Such modifications to our investment strategies could adversely affect our performance.

        For each of our current multifamily development projects where we or our unconsolidated joint ventures hold a mezzanine loan, there is a senior construction loan on the project. These construction loans will mature on or before the maturity date of our mezzanine loans. Upon maturity of the construction loans, such loans will need to be refinanced or otherwise satisfied. Because our equity or lending positions are subordinate to the construction loans with respect to each of these development projects, higher borrowing costs or difficulty in obtaining financing as the senior construction loans become due could result in a partial or total loss of the value of any such investment.

        Government Intervention.    The pervasive and fundamental disruptions that the global financial markets have undergone has led to extensive and unprecedented governmental intervention. Such intervention has in certain cases been implemented on an "emergency" basis, suddenly and substantially

40

---

Table of Contents

eliminating market participants' ability to continue to implement certain strategies or manage the risk of their outstanding positions. In addition, these interventions have typically been unclear in scope and application, resulting in confusion and uncertainty, which in itself has been materially detrimental to the efficient functioning of the markets as well as previously successful investment strategies. There is likely to be increased regulation of the financial markets that could have a material impact on our operating results and financial condition.

After increasing throughout 2008, capitalization rates in major U.S. markets for multifamily communities appeared to be stabilizing towards the end of 2009. However, a prolonged economic slowdown could lead to further increases which could cause our investments to decline in value. On the other hand, if capitalization rates stabilize or decrease, it may be more challenging for us to find attractive income-producing investment opportunities.

        In connection with the recent credit market disruptions and economic slowdown, there is evidence that capitalization rates in major U.S. markets for multifamily communities rose in 2008 and the first half of 2009. Although such capitalization rates appeared to have stabilized towards the end of 2009, a prolonged economic slowdown could lead to further increases. Increases in capitalization rates (the rate of return immediately expected upon investment in a real estate asset) reflect declines in the pricing of those assets upon sale. As a result of recent capitalization increases and in the event of further increases, we would expect that if we were required to sell our existing investments into such market, we could experience a substantial decrease in the value of our investments and those of our unconsolidated joint ventures. As a result, to the extent we may be required to test the current market, we may not be able to recover the carrying amount of our investments or the investments in our unconsolidated joint ventures. Apart from the potential for such results on any such sale, we may also be required to recognize an impairment charge in earnings in respect of assets we currently own.

        If capitalization rates stabilize or decrease, we would expect the value of our current investments to hold steady or even increase. However, in such an environment it may be more difficult for us to find attractive income-producing investment opportunities. This challenge may be exacerbated if the cost of debt financing increases as well, as our ability to leverage returns through the use of debt financing will be negatively affected.

Increases in unemployment caused by a recessionary economy could adversely affect multifamily property occupancy and rental rates with high quality multifamily communities suffering even more severely.

        Rising levels of unemployment in our multifamily markets could significantly decrease occupancy and rental rates. In times of increasing unemployment, multifamily occupancy and rental rates have historically been adversely affected by:

•

rental residents deciding to share rental units and therefore rent fewer units;



•

potential residents moving back into family homes or delaying leaving family homes;



•

a reduced demand for higher-rent units, such as those of high quality multifamily communities;



•

a decline in household formation;



•

persons enrolled in college delaying leaving college or choosing to proceed to or return to graduate school in the absence of available employment; and



•

the inability or unwillingness of residents to pay rent increases.

        Since 2007, the vacancy rates for multifamily communities have increased as rising joblessness reduced demand while supply components increased, particularly so-called shadow rental alternatives from unsold condominiums and single-family residences. These factors have contributed to lower rental

41

---

Table of Contents

rates. If employment levels do not improve, our results of operations, financial condition and ability to make distributions to you may be adversely affected.

Recent disruptions in the financial markets could adversely affect the multifamily property sector's ability to obtain financing and credit enhancement from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which could adversely impact us.

        Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are major sources of financing for the multifamily sector. Since 2007, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have reported substantial losses and a need for significant amounts of additional capital. In response to the deteriorating financial condition of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the recent credit market disruption, the U.S. Congress and Treasury undertook a series of actions to stabilize these government-sponsored enterprises and the financial markets. Pursuant to legislation enacted in 2008, the U.S. government placed both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under its conservatorship. Despite recent additional funding for both government-sponsored entities, the U.S. government has stated that it remains committed to reducing their portfolios.

        Currently, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac remain active multifamily lenders. In fact, we and our Co-Investment Ventures secured approximately $172.4 million in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac financing from November 2009 through February 2010. However, if new U.S. government regulations heighten Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's underwriting standards, adversely affect interest rates and reduce the amount of capital they can make available to the multifamily sector, it could have a material adverse effect on both the multifamily sector and us because many private alternative sources of funding have been reduced or are unavailable. Any potential reduction in loans, guarantees and credit-enhancement arrangements from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could jeopardize the effectiveness of the multifamily sector's derivative securities market, potentially causing breaches in loan covenants, and through reduced loan availability, impact the value of multifamily assets, which could impair the value of a significant portion of multifamily communities. Specifically, the potential for a decrease in liquidity made available to the multifamily sector by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could: (1) make it more difficult for us to secure new takeout financing for current multifamily development projects; (2) hinder our ability to refinance completed multifamily assets; and (3) decrease the amount of available liquidity and credit that could be used to further diversify our portfolio of multifamily assets.

Our operating results will be affected by economic and regulatory changes that have an adverse impact on the real estate market in general, and we cannot assure you that we will be profitable or that we will realize growth in the value of our real estate properties.

        Our operating results will be subject to risks generally incident to the ownership of real estate, including:

•

changes in general economic or local conditions;



•

changes in supply of or demand for similar or competing properties in an area;



•

changes in interest rates and availability of permanent mortgage funds that may render the sale of a property difficult or unattractive;



•

the illiquidity of real estate investments generally;



•

changes in tax, real estate, environmental and zoning laws;



•

periods of high interest rates and tight money supply;



•

residents' perceptions of the safety, convenience, and attractiveness of our properties and the neighborhoods where they are located; and



•

our ability to provide adequate management, maintenance, and insurance.

42

---

Table of Contents

        In addition, local conditions in the markets in which we own or intend to own multifamily communities or in which the collateral securing our loans is located may significantly affect occupancy or rental rates at such properties. The risks that may adversely affect conditions in those markets include the following:

•

layoffs, plant closings, relocations of significant local employers and other events negatively impacting local employment rates and the local economy;



•

an oversupply of, or a lack of demand for, apartments;



•

a decline in household formation;



•

the inability or unwillingness of residents to pay rent increases; and



•

rent control or rent stabilization laws or other housing laws, which could prevent us from raising rents.

        For these and other reasons, we cannot assure you that we will be profitable or that we will realize growth in the value of our real estate properties.

If we have limited diversification of the geographic locations of our properties, our operating results will be affected by economic changes that have an adverse impact on the real estate market in those areas.

        In the event that most of our properties are located in a single geographic area, our operating results and ability to make distributions are likely to be impacted by economic changes affecting the real estate markets in that area. Your investment will be subject to greater risk to the extent that we lack a geographically diversified portfolio.

Our failure to integrate acquired communities and new personnel could create inefficiencies and reduce the return of your investment.

        To grow successfully, we must be able to apply our experience in managing real estate to a larger number of properties. In addition, we must be able to integrate new management and operations personnel as our organization grows in size and complexity. Failures in either area will result in inefficiencies that could adversely affect our expected return on our investments and our overall profitability.

Short-term multifamily community leases expose us to the effects of declining market rent and could adversely impact our ability to make cash distributions to our stockholders.

        We expect that substantially all of our multifamily community leases will be for a term of one year or less. Because these leases generally permit the residents to leave at the end of the lease term without penalty, our rental revenues may be impacted by declines in market rents more quickly than if our leases were for longer terms.

Any student-housing properties that we acquire will be subject to an annual leasing cycle, short lease-up period, seasonal cash flows, changing university admission and housing policies, and other risks inherent in the student-housing industry, any of which could have a negative impact on your investment.

        Student-housing properties generally have short-term leases of 12 months, ten months, nine months, or shorter. As a result, we may experience significantly reduced cash flows during the summer months from student-housing properties while most students are on vacation. Furthermore, student-housing properties must be almost entirely re-leased each year, exposing us to increased leasing risk. Student-housing properties are also typically leased during a limited leasing season that usually begins in January and ends in August of each year. We would, therefore, be highly dependent on the effectiveness of our marketing and leasing efforts and personnel during this season.

43

---

Table of Contents

        Changes in university admission policies could also adversely affect us. For example, if a university reduces the number of student admissions or requires that a certain class of students, such as freshman, live in a university-owned facility, the demand for units at our student-housing properties may be reduced and our occupancy rates may decline. We rely on our relationships with colleges and universities for referrals of prospective student residents or for mailing lists of prospective student residents and their parents. Many of these colleges and universities own and operate their own competing on-campus facilities. Any failure to maintain good relationships with these colleges and universities could therefore have a material adverse effect on our ability to market our properties to students and their families.

        Federal and state laws require colleges to publish and distribute reports of on-campus crime statistics, which may result in negative publicity and media coverage associated with crimes occurring on or in the vicinity of any student-housing properties. Reports of crime or other negative publicity regarding the safety of the students residing on, or near, our student-housing properties may have an adverse effect on our business.

We may face significant competition from university-owned student housing and from other residential properties that are in close proximity to any student-housing properties we may acquire, which could have a negative impact on our results of operations.

        On-campus student housing has certain inherent advantages over off-campus student housing in terms of physical proximity to the university campus and integration of on-campus facilities into the academic community. Colleges and universities can generally avoid real estate taxes and borrow funds at lower interest rates than us.

Properties that have significant vacancies could be difficult to sell, which could diminish the return on your investment.

        A property may incur vacancies either by the continued default of residents under their leases or the expiration of leases. If vacancies continue for a long period of time, we may suffer reduced revenues resulting in decreased distributions to our stockholders. In addition, the resale value of the property could be diminished because the market value of a particular property will depend principally upon the value of the leases of such property.

Many of our investments will be dependent on residents for revenue, and lease terminations could reduce our ability to make distributions to stockholders.

        The success of our real property investments often will be materially dependent on the financial stability of our residents. Lease payment defaults by residents could cause us to reduce the amount of distributions to stockholders. A default by a significant number of residents on his or her lease payments to us would cause us to lose the revenue associated with such lease and cause us to have to find an alternative source of revenue to meet mortgage payments and prevent a foreclosure if the property is subject to a mortgage. In the event of a lease default, we may experience delays in enforcing our rights as landlord and may incur substantial costs in protecting our investment and re-letting our property. If a substantial number of leases are terminated, we cannot assure you that we will be able to lease the property for the rent previously received or sell the property without incurring a loss. Additionally, loans that we make generally will relate to real estate. As a result, the borrower's ability to repay the loan may be dependent on the financial stability of our residents leasing the related real estate.

44

---

Table of Contents

We may be unable to secure funds for future capital improvements, which could adversely impact our ability to make cash distributions to our stockholders.

        When residents do not renew their leases or otherwise vacate their space, in order to attract replacement residents, we may be required to expend funds for capital improvements to the vacated apartment units. In addition, we may require substantial funds to renovate an apartment community in order to sell it, upgrade it or reposition it in the market. If we have insufficient capital reserves, we will have to obtain financing from other sources. We intend to establish capital reserves in an amount we, in our discretion, believe is necessary. A lender also may require escrow of capital reserves in excess of any established reserves. If these reserves or any reserves otherwise established are designated for other uses or are insufficient to meet our cash needs, we may have to obtain financing from either affiliated or unaffiliated sources to fund our cash requirements. We cannot assure you that sufficient financing will be available or, if available, will be available on economically feasible terms or on terms acceptable to us. Moreover, certain reserves required by lenders may be designated for specific uses and may not be available for capital purposes such as future capital improvements. Additional borrowing for capital needs and capital improvements will increase our interest expense, and therefore our financial condition and our ability to make cash distributions to our stockholders may be adversely affected.

We may be unable to sell a property or real estate-related asset if or when we decide to do so, which could adversely impact our ability to make cash distributions to our stockholders.

        We intend to hold the various real properties and real estate-related assets in which we invest until such time as our advisor determines that a sale or other disposition appears to be advantageous to achieve our investment objectives or until it appears that these objectives will not be met. Otherwise, our advisor, subject to approval of our board of directors, may exercise its discretion as to whether and when to sell a property, and we will have no obligation to sell properties at any particular time, except upon our liquidation. If we have not begun the process to list our shares for trading on a national securities exchange or to liquidate at any time after the sixth anniversary of the termination of this primary offering, unless such date is extended by our board of directors including a majority of our independent directors, we will furnish a proxy statement to stockholders to vote on a proposal for our orderly liquidation upon the written request of stockholders owning 10% or more of our outstanding common stock. The liquidation proposal would include information regarding appraisals of our portfolio. By proxy, stockholders holding a majority of our shares could vote to approve our liquidation. If our stockholders did not approve the liquidation proposal, we would obtain new appraisals and resubmit the proposal by proxy statement to our stockholders up to once every two years upon the written request of stockholders owning 10% or more of our outstanding common stock.

        The real estate market is affected, as discussed above, by many factors, such as general economic conditions, availability of financing, interest rates and other factors, including supply and demand, that are beyond our control. We cannot predict whether we will be able to sell any asset for the price or on the terms set by us, or whether any price or other terms offered by a prospective purchaser would be acceptable to us. We cannot predict the length of time needed to find a willing purchaser and to close the sale of a property or real estate-related asset. If we are unable to sell a property or real estate-related asset when we determine to do so, it could have a significant adverse effect on our cash flow and results of operations.

Our co-venture partners, co-tenants or other partners in co-ownership arrangements could take actions that decrease the value of an investment to us and lower your overall return.

        We may enter into joint ventures, tenant-in-common investments or other co-ownership arrangements with other Behringer Harvard-sponsored programs or third parties having investment objectives similar to ours for the acquisition, development or improvement of properties as well as the acquisition of real estate-related investments. We may also purchase and develop properties in joint

45

---

Table of Contents

ventures or in partnerships, co-tenancies or other co-ownership arrangements with the sellers of the properties, affiliates of the sellers, developers or other persons. Such investments may involve risks not otherwise present with other forms of real estate investment, including, for example:

•

the possibility that our co-venturer, co-tenant or partner in an investment might become bankrupt;



•

the possibility that a co-venturer, co-tenant or partner in an investment might breach a loan agreement or other agreement or otherwise, by action or inaction, act in a way detrimental to us or the investment;



•

that such co-venturer, co-tenant or partner may at any time have economic or business interests or goals that are or that become inconsistent with our business interests or goals;



•

the possibility that we may incur liabilities as the result of the action taken by our partner or co-investor; or



•

that such co-venturer, co-tenant or partner may be in a position to take action contrary to our instructions or requests or contrary to our policies or objectives, including our policy with respect to qualifying and maintaining our qualification as a REIT.

        Any of the above might subject a property to liabilities in excess of those contemplated and thus reduce our returns on that investment.

Uninsured losses relating to real property or excessively expensive premiums for insurance coverage may adversely affect your returns.

        Our advisor will attempt to ensure that all of our properties are adequately insured to cover casualty losses. The nature of the activities at certain properties we may acquire, such as age-restricted communities or student housing, may expose us and our operators to potential liability for personal injuries and property damage claims. In addition, there are types of losses, generally catastrophic in nature, such as losses due to wars, acts of terrorism, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, pollution or environmental matters that are uninsurable or not economically insurable, or may be insured subject to limitations, such as large deductibles or co-payments. Insurance risks associated with potential terrorist acts could sharply increase the premiums we pay for coverage against property and casualty claims. Mortgage lenders generally insist that specific coverage against terrorism be purchased by property owners as a condition for providing mortgage, bridge or mezzanine loans. It is uncertain whether such insurance policies will continue to be available, or be available at reasonable cost, which could inhibit our ability to finance or refinance our properties. In such instances, we may be required to provide other financial support, either through financial assurances or self-insurance, to cover potential losses. We cannot assure you that we will have adequate coverage for such losses. In the event that any of our properties incurs a casualty loss that is not fully covered by insurance, the value of our assets will be reduced by the amount of any such uninsured loss. In addition, other than any potential capital reserve or other reserves we may establish, we have no source of funding to repair or reconstruct any uninsured damaged property, and we cannot assure you that any such sources of funding will be available to us for such purposes in the future. Also, to the extent we must pay unexpectedly large amounts for insurance, we could suffer reduced earnings that would result in decreased distributions to stockholders.

46

---

Table of Contents

Our operating results may be negatively affected by potential development and construction delays and result in increased costs and risks, which could diminish the return on your investment.

        We may use some or all of the offering proceeds available to us to acquire, develop and/or redevelop properties upon which we will develop multifamily communities and construct improvements. We will be subject to risks relating to uncertainties associated with rezoning for development and environmental concerns of governmental entities and/or community groups and our developer's ability to control construction costs or to build in conformity with plans, specifications and timetables. The developer's failure to perform may necessitate legal action by us to rescind the purchase or the construction contract or to compel performance. Performance may also be affected or delayed by conditions beyond the developer's control. Delays in completion of a multifamily community also could give residents the right to terminate preconstruction leases for apartment units at a newly developed project. We may incur additional risks when we make periodic progress payments or other advances to such developers prior to completion of construction. These and other such factors can result in increased costs of a project or loss of our investment. In addition, we will be subject to normal lease-up risks relating to newly constructed projects. Furthermore, we must rely upon projections of rental income and expenses and estimates of the fair market value of property upon completion of construction when agreeing upon a price to be paid for the property at the time of acquisition of the property. If our projections are inaccurate, we may pay too much for a property, and the return on our investment could suffer.

        In addition, we may invest in unimproved real property (which we define as property not acquired for the purpose of producing rental or other operating income, has no development or construction in process at the time of acquisition and no development or construction is planned to commence within one year of the acquisition) or mortgage loans on unimproved property. Returns from development of unimproved properties are also subject to risks and uncertainties associated with rezoning the land for development and environmental concerns of governmental entities and/or community groups. Although our intention is to limit any investment in unimproved property to property we intend to develop, your investment nevertheless is subject to the risks associated with investments in unimproved real property.

Our plan to reposition certain commercial properties through demolition, conversion and redevelopment into new multifamily communities may never commence after we make an investment in the property, be delayed or never reach completion, which could diminish the return on your investment.

        We may make investments in a wide variety of commercial properties, including, without limitation, office buildings, shopping centers, business and industrial parks, manufacturing facilities, warehouses and distribution facilities and motel and hotel properties for purposes of repositioning these properties into multifamily communities. After we make an investment, we or the developer, as applicable, may be unable to commence conversion of these properties and therefore may be required to continue operating the properties under their current purpose, which would include other than multifamily community uses. In addition, we may also be unable to complete the demolition, conversion or redevelopment of these commercial properties and may be forced to hold or sell these properties at a loss. Although we intend to focus on multifamily communities and limit any investment in commercial properties for repositioning into multifamily communities, your investment is subject to the risks associated with these commercial properties and traditional construction risks associated with this repositioning plan.

If we contract with Behringer Development Company LP or its affiliates for newly developed property, we cannot guarantee that any earnest money deposit we make to Behringer Development Company LP or its affiliates will be fully refunded.

        We may enter into one or more contracts, either directly or indirectly through joint ventures, tenant-in-common investments or other co-ownership arrangements, with affiliates of our advisor or

47

---

Table of Contents

others, to acquire real property from Behringer Development Company LP ("Behringer Development"), an affiliate of our advisor. Properties acquired from Behringer Development or its affiliates may be existing income-producing properties, properties to be developed or properties under development. We anticipate that we will be obligated to pay a substantial earnest money deposit at the time of contracting to acquire such properties. In the case of properties to be developed by Behringer Development or its affiliates, we anticipate that we will be required to close the purchase of the property upon completion of the development of the property by Behringer Development or its affiliates. At the time of contracting and the payment of the earnest money deposit by us, Behringer Development or its affiliates typically will not have acquired title to any real property. Typically, Behringer Development or its affiliates will only have a contract to acquire land and a development agreement to develop a building on the land. We may enter into such a contract with Behringer Development or its affiliates even if at the time of contracting we have not yet raised sufficient proceeds in our offering to enable us to close the purchase of such property. However, we will not be required to close a purchase from Behringer Development or its affiliates, and will be entitled to a refund of our earnest money, in the following circumstances:

•

Behringer Development or its affiliates fail to develop the property;



•

a significant portion of the pre-leased residents of a new or recently redeveloped apartment community fail to take possession under their leases for any reason; or



•

we are unable to raise sufficient proceeds from our offering to pay the purchase price at closing.

        The obligation of Behringer Development or its affiliates to refund our earnest money will be unsecured, and no assurance can be made that we would be able to obtain a refund of such earnest money deposit from it under these circumstances since Behringer Development is an entity without substantial assets or operations.

We face competition from third parties, including other multifamily communities, which may limit our profitability and the return on your investment.

        The residential multifamily community industry is highly competitive. This competition could reduce occupancy levels and revenues at our multifamily communities, which would adversely affect our operations. We compete with many other entities engaged in real estate investment activities, including individuals, corporations, bank and insurance company investment accounts, other REITs, real estate limited partnerships, and other entities engaged in real estate investment activities, many of which have greater resources than we do. Larger real estate programs may enjoy significant competitive advantages that result from, among other things, a lower cost of capital and enhanced operating efficiencies. Our competitors include other multifamily communities both in the immediate vicinity and the broader geographic market where our multifamily communities will be located. Overbuilding of multifamily communities may occur. If so, this will increase the number of multifamily community units available and may decrease occupancy and multifamily unit rental rates. In addition, increases in operating costs due to inflation may not be offset by increased rental rates. We may be required to expend substantial sums to attract new residents.

In connection with the recent credit market disruptions and economic slowdown, we may face increased competition from single-family homes and condominiums for rent, which could limit our ability to retain residents, lease apartment units or increase or maintain rents.

        Any multifamily communities we invest in may compete with numerous housing alternatives in attracting residents, including single-family homes and condominiums available for rent. Such competitive housing alternatives may become more prevalent in a particular area because of the tightening of mortgage lending underwriting criteria, homeowner foreclosures, the decline in single-family home and condominium sales and the lack of available credit. The number of single-family

48

---

Table of Contents

homes and condominiums for rent in a particular area could limit our ability to retain residents, lease apartment units or increase or maintain rents.

If PGGM does not honor its commitments, our portfolio may not be as diverse and our investments may suffer.

        Under arrangements managed by a subsidiary of our sponsor, we have entered into, and it is intended that we will continue to enter into, joint venture investments with PGGM in multifamily communities that are to-be-developed or in the process of being developed, or for which development has been completed for less than three years, other than residential properties for assisted living, student housing or senior housing. As of December 31, 2009, we have made joint venture investments with PGGM in substantially all of the properties and development projects in which we have invested. PGGM has committed to our sponsor to invest up to $300 million in such joint ventures (with approximately $221.9 million committed to currently existing properties and projects). As such, we expect a substantial portion of our future investments will be made through such joint ventures. We expect this investment strategy to increase the number of investments we make and the diversification of our investment portfolio. However, if PGGM does not honor its current commitment to invest up to $300 million in such joint ventures, our portfolio will not consist of as many investments or be as diverse as it otherwise would.

        In addition, under the joint venture arrangements into which we have entered, and expect to continue to enter, with PGGM, we may in certain situations call for capital contributions to be made by PGGM. This has typically been the case in the development projects in which we have co-invested with PGGM; as the development progresses, it is generally required that both we and PGGM contribute additional capital to the project. If PGGM were unwilling or unable to contribute this capital when required, the project and our investment therein could suffer due to lack of funding or delays in funding. In addition, we could, through our interest in the joint venture with PGGM, be in breach of our obligations to the other parties investing in the development project unless we were to fund PGGM's portion on its behalf or obtain alternative sources of funding. If we were to fund PGGM's portion on its behalf, we would have less capital to invest in other assets and the diversification of our portfolio would suffer. If we were unable to fund the portion of any project that PGGM is expected to, but does not, fund in accordance with the joint venture agreement, the joint venture may be unable to meet its funding obligations to the project and the value of our interest in the project may be reduced or eliminated.

        Because PGGM is a pooled investment structure, each investor investing in the structure will be responsible for its proportionate share of the capital PGGM is obligated to provide to our joint venture. We will indirectly rely on these investors to meet their obligations to PGGM so that PGGM can meet its obligations described above.

A concentration of our investments in the multifamily sector may leave our profitability vulnerable to a downturn or slowdown in such sector.

        At any one time, a significant portion of our investments are likely to be in the multifamily sector. As a result, we will be subject to risks inherent in investments in a single type of property. If our investments are substantially in the multifamily sector, then the potential effects on our revenues, and as a result, on cash available for distribution to our stockholders, resulting from a downturn or slowdown in the multifamily sector could be more pronounced than if we had more fully diversified our investments.

49

---

Table of Contents

Failure to succeed in new markets or in new property classes may have adverse consequences on our performance.

        We may from time to time commence development activity or make acquisitions outside of our existing market areas or the property classes of our primary focus if appropriate opportunities arise. Our historical experience in our existing markets in developing, owning and operating certain classes of property does not ensure that we will be able to operate successfully in new markets, should we choose to enter them, or that we will be successful in new property classes. We may be exposed to a variety of risks if we choose to enter new markets, including an inability to evaluate accurately local market conditions, to obtain land for development or to identify appropriate acquisition opportunities, to hire and retain key personnel, and a lack of familiarity with local governmental and permitting procedures. In addition, we may abandon opportunities to enter new markets or acquire new classes of property that we have begun to explore for any reason and may, as a result, fail to recover expenses already incurred.

Acquiring or attempting to acquire multiple properties in a single transaction may adversely affect our operations.

        From time to time, we may attempt to acquire multiple properties in a single transaction. Portfolio acquisitions are more complex and expensive than single-property acquisitions, and the risk that a multiple-property acquisition does not close may be greater than in a single-property acquisition. Portfolio acquisitions may also result in us owning investments in geographically dispersed markets, placing additional demands on our ability to manage the properties in the portfolio. In addition, a seller may require that a group of properties be purchased as a package even though we may not want to purchase one or more properties in the portfolio. In these situations, if we are unable to identify another person or entity to acquire the unwanted properties, we may be required to operate or attempt to dispose of these properties. To acquire multiple properties in a single transaction we may be required to accumulate a large amount of cash. We would expect the returns that we can earn on such cash to be less than the ultimate returns in real property and therefore, accumulating such cash could reduce the funds available for distributions. Any of the foregoing events may have an adverse effect on our operations.

If we set aside insufficient capital reserves, we may be required to defer necessary capital improvements.

        If we do not have enough reserves for capital to supply needed funds for capital improvements throughout the life of the investment in a property and there is insufficient cash available from our operations, we may be required to defer necessary improvements to the property, which may cause the property to suffer from a greater risk of obsolescence or a decline in value, or a greater risk of decreased cash flow as a result of fewer potential residents being attracted to the property. If this happens, we may not be able to maintain projected rental rates for affected properties, and our results of operations may be negatively impacted.

The costs of compliance with environmental laws and other governmental laws and regulations may adversely affect our income and the cash available for any distributions.

        All real property and the operations conducted on real property are subject to federal, state and local laws and regulations relating to environmental protection and human health and safety. These laws and regulations generally govern wastewater discharges, air emissions, the operation and removal of underground and above-ground storage tanks, the use, storage, treatment, transportation and disposal of solid and hazardous materials, and the remediation of contamination associated with disposals. Some of these laws and regulations may impose joint and several liability on residents, owners or operators for the costs of investigation or remediation of contaminated properties, regardless of fault or the legality of the original disposal. In addition, the presence of these substances, or the

50

---

Table of Contents

failure to properly remediate these substances, may adversely affect our ability to sell or rent the property or to use the property as collateral for future borrowing.

        Compliance with new or more stringent laws or regulations or stricter interpretation of existing laws may require material expenditures by us. For example, various federal, regional and state laws and regulations have been implemented or are under consideration to mitigate the effects of climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions. Among other things, "green" building codes may seek to reduce emissions through the imposition of standards for design, construction materials, water and energy usage and efficiency, and waste management. We are not aware of any such existing requirements that we believe will have a material impact on our current operations. However, future requirements could increase the costs of maintaining or improving our existing properties or developing new properties.

Discovery of previously undetected environmentally hazardous conditions may adversely affect our operating results.

        Under various federal, state and local environmental laws, ordinances and regulations (including those of foreign jurisdictions), a current or previous owner or operator of real property may be liable for the cost of removal or remediation of hazardous or toxic substances on, under or in such property. The costs of removal or remediation could be substantial. These laws often impose liability whether or not the owner or operator knew of, or was responsible for, the presence of the hazardous or toxic substances.

        Environmental laws also may impose restrictions on the manner in which property may be used or businesses may be operated, and these restrictions may require substantial expenditures. Environmental laws provide for sanctions in the event of noncompliance and may be enforced by governmental agencies or, in certain circumstances, by private parties. Certain environmental laws and common law principles govern the presence, maintenance, removal and disposal of certain building materials, including asbestos and lead-based paint. Such hazardous substances could be released into the air and third parties may seek recovery from owners or operators of real properties for personal injury or property damage associated with exposure to released hazardous substances.

        In addition, when excessive moisture accumulates in buildings or on building materials, mold growth may occur, particularly if the moisture problem remains undiscovered or is not addressed over a period of time. Some molds may produce airborne toxins or irritants. Concern about indoor exposure to mold has been increasing, as exposure to mold may cause a variety of adverse health effects and symptoms, including allergic or other reactions. As a result, the presence of significant mold at any of our projects could require us to undertake a costly remediation program to contain or remove the mold from the affected property or development project, which would reduce our operating results.

        The cost of defending against such claims of liability, of compliance with environmental regulatory requirements, of remediating any contaminated property, or of paying personal injury claims could materially adversely affect our business, assets or results of operations and, consequently, amounts available for distribution to you.

Our costs associated with and the risk of failing to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Fair Housing Act may affect cash available for distributions.

        Our properties and the properties underlying our investments are generally expected to be subject to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, as amended ("Disabilities Act"), or similar laws of foreign jurisdictions. Under the Disabilities Act, all places of public accommodation are required to comply with federal requirements related to access and use by disabled persons. The Disabilities Act has separate compliance requirements for "public accommodations" and "commercial facilities" that generally require that buildings and services be made accessible and available to people with disabilities. The Disabilities Act's requirements could require removal of access barriers and could

51

---

Table of Contents

result in the imposition of injunctive relief, monetary penalties or, in some cases, an award of damages. We will attempt to acquire properties that comply with the Disabilities Act or similar laws of foreign jurisdictions or place the burden on the seller or other third party to ensure compliance with such laws. However, we cannot assure you that we will be able to acquire properties or allocate responsibilities in this manner. If we cannot, our funds used for compliance with these laws may affect cash available for distributions and the amount of distributions to you.

        The multifamily communities in which we invest must comply with Title III of the Disabilities Act, to the extent that such properties are "public accommodations" and/or "commercial facilities" as defined by the Disabilities Act. Compliance with the Disabilities Act could require removal of structural barriers to handicapped access in certain public areas of our multifamily communities where such removal is readily achievable. The Disabilities Act does not, however, consider residential properties, such as multifamily communities to be public accommodations or commercial facilities, except to the extent portions of such facilities, such as the leasing office, are open to the public.

        We also must comply with the Fair Housing Amendment Act of 1988 ("FHAA"), which requires that multifamily communities first occupied after March 13, 1991 be accessible to handicapped residents and visitors. Compliance with the FHAA could require removal of structural barriers to handicapped access in a community, including the interiors of apartment units covered under the FHAA. Recently there has been heightened scrutiny of multifamily housing communities for compliance with the requirements of the FHAA and Disabilities Act and an increasing number of substantial enforcement actions and private lawsuits have been brought against multifamily communities to ensure compliance with these requirements. Noncompliance with the FHAA and Disabilities Act could result in the imposition of fines, awards of damages to private litigants, payment of attorneys' fees and other costs to plaintiffs, substantial litigation costs and substantial costs of remediation.

By owning age-restricted communities, we may incur liability by failing to comply with the FHAA, the Housing for Older Persons Act or certain state regulations, which may affect cash available for distributions.

        Any age-restricted communities we acquire must comply with the FHAA and the Housing for Older Persons Act ("HOPA"). The FHAA prohibits housing discrimination based upon familial status, which is commonly referred to as age-based discrimination. However, there are exceptions for housing developments that qualify as housing for older persons. The HOPA provides the legal requirements for such housing developments. In order for housing to qualify as housing for older persons, the HOPA requires (i) all residents of such developments to be 62 years of age or older or (ii) that at least 80% of the occupied units are occupied by at least one person who is 55 years of age or older and that the housing community publish and adhere to policies and procedures that demonstrate this required intent and comply with rules issued by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development for verification of occupancy. In addition, certain states require that age-restricted housing communities register with the state. Noncompliance with the FHAA, HOPA and state registration requirements could result in the imposition of fines, awards of damages to private litigants, payment of attorneys' fees and other costs to plaintiffs, substantial litigation costs and substantial costs of remediation.

If we sell properties by providing financing to purchasers, we will bear the risk of default by the purchaser.

        If we decide to sell any of our properties, we intend to use commercially reasonable efforts to sell them for cash or in exchange for other property. However, in some instances we may sell our properties by providing financing to purchasers. If we provide financing to purchasers, we will bear the risk of default by the purchaser and will be subject to remedies provided by law, which could negatively impact distributions to our stockholders. There are no limitations or restrictions on our ability to take purchase money obligations. We may, therefore, take a purchase money obligation secured by a mortgage as partial payment for the purchase price of a property. The terms of payment to us generally will be affected by custom in the area where the property being sold is located and the then-prevailing

52

---

Table of Contents

economic conditions. If we receive promissory notes or other property in lieu of cash from property sales, the distribution of the proceeds of sales to our stockholders, or their reinvestment in other assets, will be delayed until the promissory notes or other property are actually paid, sold or refinanced or we have otherwise disposed of such promissory notes or other property. In some cases, we may receive initial down payments in cash and other property in the year of sale in an amount less than the selling price and subsequent payments will be spread over a number of years. If any purchaser defaults under a financing arrangement with us, it could negatively impact our ability to make distributions to our stockholders.

Risks Associated with Debt Financing

We will incur mortgage indebtedness and other borrowings, which will increase our business risks.

        We and the entities in which we invest have utilized debt financing secured by real property investments to finance acquisitions. We anticipate that we will acquire additional properties and other real estate-related assets by using existing financing, if available, or borrowing new funds. In order to satisfy the requirement that we distribute to stockholders at least 90% of our annual REIT taxable income, or otherwise as is necessary or advisable to assure that we maintain our qualification as a REIT for federal income tax purposes and/or avoid federal income tax, we may also borrow additional funds for payment of distribution to stockholders.

        There is no limitation on the amount we may invest in any single property or other asset or on the amount we can borrow for the purchase of any individual property or other investment. Under our charter, the maximum amount of our indebtedness shall not exceed 300% of our "net assets" (as defined by our charter) as of the date of any borrowing; however, we may exceed that limit if approved by a majority of our independent directors.

        In addition to our charter limitation, our board of directors has adopted a policy to generally limit our aggregate borrowings to approximately 75% of the aggregate value of our assets unless substantial justification exists that borrowing a greater amount is in our best interests (for purposes of this policy limitation and the target leverage ratio discussed below, the value of our assets is based on methodologies and policies determined by the board of directors that may include, but do not require, independent appraisals). Our policy limitation, however, does not apply to individual real estate assets and only will apply once we have ceased raising capital under this or any subsequent offering and invested substantially all of our capital. As a result, we expect to borrow more than 75% of the contract purchase price of each real estate asset we acquire to the extent our board of directors determines that borrowing these amounts is prudent. Such debt may be at a level that is higher than real estate investment trusts with similar investment objectives or criteria. High debt levels would cause us to incur higher interest charges, would result in higher debt service payments, and could be accompanied by restrictive covenants. These factors could limit the amount of cash we have available to distribute and could result in a decline in the value of your investment. Following the investment of the proceeds to be raised in this offering, we will seek a long term leverage ratio of approximately 60% upon stabilization of the aggregate value of our assets.

        We do not intend to incur mortgage debt on a particular real property unless we believe the property's projected cash flow is sufficient to service the mortgage debt. However, if there is a shortfall in cash flow, then the amount available for distributions to stockholders may be affected. In addition, incurring mortgage debt increases the risk of loss because (1) loss in investment value is generally borne entirely by the borrower until such time as the investment value declines below the principal balance of the associated debt and (2) defaults on indebtedness secured by a property may result in foreclosure actions initiated by lenders and our loss of the property securing the loan that is in default. For tax purposes, a foreclosure of any of our properties would be treated as a sale of the property for a purchase price equal to the outstanding balance of the debt secured by the mortgage. If the

53

---

Table of Contents

outstanding balance of the debt secured by the mortgage exceeds our tax basis in the property, we would recognize taxable income on foreclosure, but would not receive any cash proceeds from the foreclosure. We may give full or partial guarantees to lenders of mortgage debt to the entities that own our properties. When we give a guaranty on behalf of an entity that owns one of our properties, we will be responsible to our lender for satisfaction of the debt if it is not paid by such entity. If any mortgages contain cross-collateralization or cross-default provisions, there is a risk that more than one real property may be affected by a default. If any of our properties are foreclosed upon due to a default, our ability to make distributions to our stockholders will be adversely affected. In addition, since we intend to begin to consider the process of liquidating and distributing cash or listing our shares on a national securities exchange within four to six years after the termination of this primary offering, our approach to investing in properties utilizing leverage in order to accomplish our investment objectives over this period of time may present more risks to our stockholders than comparable real estate programs that have a longer intended duration and that do not utilize borrowing to the same degree.

If mortgage debt is unavailable at reasonable rates, we may not be able to finance the multifamily communities, which could reduce the number of properties we can acquire and the amount of cash distributions we can make.

        When we place mortgage debt on multifamily communities, we run the risk of being unable to refinance the properties when the loans come due, or of being unable to refinance on favorable terms. If interest rates are higher when the properties are refinanced, we may not be able to finance the properties at reasonable rates and our income could be reduced. If this occurs, it would reduce cash available for distribution to our stockholders, and it may prevent us from borrowing more money.

Our financial condition could be adversely affected by financial covenants under our credit facility.

        In March 2010, we closed on a $150.0 million credit facility. Our credit facility agreement contains certain financial and operating covenants, including, among other things, leverage ratios, certain coverage ratios, as well as limitations on our ability to incur secured indebtedness. The credit facility agreement also contains customary default provisions including the failure to timely pay debt service issued thereunder and the failure to comply with our financial and operating covenants and cross-default provision with other debt. These covenants could limit our ability to obtain additional funds needed to address liquidity needs or pursue growth opportunities or transactions that would provide substantial return to our stockholders. In addition, a breach of these covenants could cause a default and accelerate payment of advances under the credit facility agreement, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition.

        Violating the covenants contained in our credit facility agreement would likely result in us incurring higher finance costs and fees and/or an acceleration of the maturity date of advances under the credit facility agreement all of which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

Lenders may require us to enter into restrictive covenants relating to our operations, which could limit our ability to make distributions to our stockholders.

        In connection with obtaining financing, a lender could impose restrictions on us that affect our ability to incur additional debt and our distribution and operating policies. In general, we expect our loan agreements to restrict our ability to encumber or otherwise transfer our interest in the respective property without the prior consent of the lender. Loan documents we enter into may contain other negative covenants that may limit our ability to further mortgage the property, discontinue insurance coverage, replace Behringer Harvard Multifamily Advisors I as our advisor or impose other limitations. Any such restriction or limitation may have an adverse effect on our operations and our ability to make distributions to you.

54

---

Table of Contents

Our ability to obtain financing on reasonable terms could be impacted by negative capital market conditions.

        During 2008 and 2009, significant and widespread concerns about credit risk and access to capital have been present in the global financial markets. Commercial real estate debt markets have experienced volatility and uncertainty as a result of certain related factors, including the tightening of underwriting standards by lenders and credit rating agencies and the significant inventory of unsold collateralized mortgage backed securities in the market. Credit spreads for major sources of capital widened significantly as investors have demanded a higher risk premium. This resulted in lenders increasing the cost for debt financing. Should the overall cost of borrowings continue to increase, either by increases in the index rates or by increases in lender spreads, we will need to factor such increases into the economics of our acquisitions, developments and property contributions. Consequently, there is greater uncertainty regarding our ability to access the credit market in order to attract financing on reasonable terms. Investment returns on our assets and our ability to make acquisitions could be adversely affected by our inability to secure financing on reasonable terms, if at all.

Interest-only indebtedness may increase our risk of default and ultimately may reduce our funds available for distribution to our stockholders.

        We may finance our property acquisitions using interest-only mortgage indebtedness. During the interest- only period, the amount of each scheduled payment will be less than that of a traditional amortizing mortgage loan. The principal balance of the mortgage loan will not be reduced (except in the case of prepayments) because there are no scheduled monthly payments of principal during this period. After the interest-only period, we will be required either to make scheduled payments of amortized principal and interest or to make a lump-sum or "balloon" payment at maturity. These required principal or balloon payments will increase the amount of our scheduled payments and may increase our risk of default under the related mortgage loan. If the mortgage loan has an adjustable interest rate, the amount of our scheduled payments also may increase at a time of rising interest rates. Increased payments and substantial principal or balloon maturity payments will reduce the funds available for distribution to our stockholders because cash otherwise available for distribution will be required to pay principal and interest associated with these mortgage loans.

Increases in interest rates could increase the amount of our debt payments and adversely affect our ability to make distributions to our stockholders.

        We may incur indebtedness that bears interest at a variable rate. In addition, from time to time we may pay mortgage loans or finance and refinance our properties in a rising interest rate environment. Accordingly, increases in interest rates could increase our interest costs, which could have an adverse effect on our cash flow from operating activities and our ability to make distributions to you. In addition, if rising interest rates cause us to need additional capital to repay indebtedness in accordance with its terms or otherwise, we may need to liquidate one or more of our investments at times that may not permit realization of the maximum return on these investments.

If we enter into financing arrangements involving balloon payment obligations, it may adversely affect our ability to make distributions.

        Some of our financing arrangements may require us to make a lump-sum or "balloon" payment at maturity. Our ability to make a balloon payment at maturity is uncertain and may depend upon our ability to obtain additional financing or our ability to sell the property. At the time the balloon payment is due, we may or may not be able to refinance the balloon payment on terms as favorable as the original loan or sell the property at a price sufficient to make the balloon payment. The effect of a refinancing or sale could affect the rate of return to stockholders and the projected time of disposition of our assets. In addition, payments of principal and interest made to service our debts may leave us with insufficient cash to pay the distributions that we are required to pay to maintain our qualification

55

---

Table of Contents

as a REIT and/or avoid federal income tax. Any of these results would have a significant, negative impact on your investment.

Risks Related to Investments in Real Estate-Related Assets

We have relatively less experience investing in mortgage, bridge, mezzanine or other loans as compared to investing directly in real property, which could adversely affect our return on loan investments.

        The experience of our advisor and its affiliates with respect to investing in mortgage, bridge, mezzanine or other loans relating to multifamily communities is not as extensive as it is with respect to investments directly in real properties. However, we have made and may continue to make such loan investments to the extent our advisor determines that it is advantageous to us due to the state of the real estate market or in order to diversify our investment portfolio. Our less extensive experience with respect to mortgage, bridge, mezzanine or other loans could adversely affect our return on loan investments.

The bridge loans in which we may invest involve greater risks of loss than conventional mortgage loans.

        We may provide or invest in bridge loans secured by first lien mortgages on a multifamily property to borrowers who are typically seeking short-term capital to be used in an acquisition or refinancing of real estate. We may also provide or invest in bridge loans secured by a pledge of the ownership interests of either the entity owning the real property or the entity that owns the interest in the entity owning the real property. The borrower has usually identified an undervalued multifamily asset that has been undermanaged or is located in a recovering market. If the market in which the asset is located fails to recover according to the borrower's projections, or if the borrower fails to improve the quality of the asset's management or the value of the asset, the borrower may not receive a sufficient return on the asset to satisfy the bridge loan, and we may not recover some or all of our investment.

        In addition, owners usually borrow funds under a conventional mortgage loan to repay a bridge loan. We may therefore be dependent on a borrower's ability to obtain permanent financing to repay our bridge loan, which could depend on market conditions and other factors. Bridge loans are also subject to risks of borrower defaults, bankruptcies, fraud, losses and special hazard losses that are not covered by standard hazard insurance. In the event of any default under bridge loans held by us, we bear the risk of loss of principal and nonpayment of interest and fees to the extent of any deficiency between the value of the mortgage collateral and the principal amount of the bridge loan. To the extent we suffer such losses with respect to our investments in bridge loans, the value of our company and the price of our common stock may be adversely affected.

The mezzanine loans in which we invest involve greater risks of loss than senior loans secured by income-producing real properties.

        We have and will continue to invest in mezzanine loans that take the form of subordinated loans secured by second mortgages on the underlying real property or loans secured by a pledge of the ownership interests of either the entity owning the real property or the entity that owns the interest in the entity owning the real property. These types of investments involve a higher degree of risk than long-term senior mortgage lending secured by income-producing real property because the investment may become unsecured as a result of foreclosure by the senior lender. In the event of a bankruptcy of the entity providing the pledge of its ownership interests as security, we may not have full recourse to the assets of the entity, or the assets of the entity may not be sufficient to satisfy our mezzanine loan. If a borrower defaults on our mezzanine loan or debt senior to our loan, or in the event of a borrower bankruptcy, our mezzanine loan will be satisfied only after the senior debt. If a borrower defaults on our loan or on debt senior to our loan, or in the event of a borrower bankruptcy, our loan will be satisfied only after the senior debt is paid in full. Where debt senior to our loan exists, the presence of

56

---

Table of Contents

intercreditor arrangements may limit our ability to amend our loan documents, assign our loans, accept prepayments, exercise our remedies (through "standstill periods"), and control decisions made in bankruptcy proceedings relating to borrowers. As a result, we may not recover some or all of our investment, which could have a negative impact on our ability to make distributions.

The construction loans in which we may invest involve greater risks of loss of investment and reduction of return than conventional mortgage loans.

        If we decide to invest in construction loans secured by multifamily or other types of underlying properties, the nature of these loans pose a greater risk of loss than traditional mortgages. Since construction loans are made generally for the express purpose of either the original development or redevelopment of a property, the risk of loss is greater than a conventional mortgage because the underlying properties subject to construction loans are generally unable to generate income during the period of the loan. Construction loans may also be subordinate to the first lien mortgages. Any delays in completing the development or redevelopment multifamily project may increase the risk of default or credit risk of the borrower which may increase the risk of loss or risk of a lower than expected return to our portfolio.

Our mortgage, bridge, mezzanine or other loans may be impacted by unfavorable real estate market conditions, which could decrease the value of our loan investments.

        If we make or invest in mortgage, bridge, mezzanine or other loans, we will be at risk of defaults on those loans caused by many conditions beyond our control, including local and other economic conditions affecting real estate values and interest rate levels. We do not know whether the values of the property securing the loans will remain at the levels existing on the dates of origination of the loans. If the values of the underlying properties drop, our risk will increase and the values of our interests may decrease.

Our mortgage, bridge, mezzanine or other loans will be subject to interest rate fluctuations, which could reduce our returns as compared to market interest rates.

        If we invest in fixed-rate, long-term mortgage, bridge, mezzanine or other loans and interest rates rise, the loans could yield a return lower than then-current market rates. If interest rates decrease, we will be adversely affected to the extent that mortgage, bridge, mezzanine or other loans are prepaid, because we may not be able to make new loans at the previously higher interest rate.

Delays in liquidating defaulted mortgage, bridge, mezzanine or other loans could reduce our investment returns.

        If there are defaults under our loans, we may not be able to repossess and quickly sell the properties securing such loans. The resulting time delay could reduce the value of our investment in the defaulted loans. An action to foreclose on a property securing a loan is regulated by state statutes and rules and is subject to the delays and expenses of any lawsuit brought in connection with the foreclosure if the defendant raises defenses or counterclaims. In the event of default by a mortgagor, these restrictions, among other things, may impede our ability to foreclose on or sell the mortgaged property or to obtain proceeds sufficient to repay all amounts due to us on the loan.

Returns on our mortgage, bridge, mezzanine or other loans may be limited by regulations.

        The mortgage, bridge or mezzanine loans in which we invest, or that we may make, may be subject to regulation by federal, state and local authorities (including those of foreign jurisdictions) and subject to various laws and judicial and administrative decisions. We may determine not to make mortgage, bridge, mezzanine or other loans in any jurisdiction in which we believe we have not complied in all

57

---

Table of Contents

material respects with applicable requirements. If we decide not to make mortgage, bridge, mezzanine or other loans in several jurisdictions, it could reduce the amount of income we would otherwise receive. Foreclosures create additional ownership risks that could adversely impact our returns on loan investments. If we acquire property by foreclosure following defaults under our mortgage, bridge, mezzanine or other loans, we will have the economic and liability risks as the owner of that property.

The liquidation of our assets may be delayed as a result of our investment in mortgage, bridge, mezzanine or other loans, which could delay distributions to our stockholders.

        The mezzanine and bridge loans we may purchase will be particularly illiquid investments due to their short life, their unsuitability for securitization and the greater difficulty of recoupment in the event of a borrower's default. If our advisor determines that it is in our best interest to make or invest in mortgage, bridge, mezzanine or other loans, any intended liquidation of us may be delayed beyond the time of the sale of all of our properties until all mortgage, bridge or mezzanine loans expire or are sold, because we may enter into mortgage, bridge, mezzanine or other loans with terms that expire after the date we intend to have sold all of our properties.

Investments in real estate-related securities will be subject to specific risks relating to the particular issuer of the securities and may be subject to the general risks of investing in subordinated real estate securities, which may result in losses to us.

        We may invest in real estate-related securities of both publicly traded and private real estate companies. Our investments in real estate-related securities will involve special risks relating to the particular issuer of the real estate-related securities, including the financial condition and business outlook of the issuer. Issuers of real estate-related equity securities generally invest in real estate or real estate-related assets and are subject to the inherent risks associated with real estate-related investments, which are discussed in this "Risk Factors" section, including risks relating to rising interest rates.

        Real estate-related securities are often unsecured and also may be subordinated to other obligations of the issuer. As a result, investments in real estate-related securities are subject to risks of: (1) limited liquidity in the secondary trading market in the case of unlisted or thinly traded securities; (2) substantial market price volatility resulting from changes in prevailing interest rates in the case of traded equity securities; (3) subordination to the prior claims of banks and other senior lenders to the issuer; (4) the operation of mandatory sinking fund or call/redemption provisions during periods of declining interest rates that could cause the issuer to reinvest redemption proceeds in lower yielding assets; (5) the possibility that earnings of the issuer may be insufficient to meet its debt service and distribution obligations; and (6) the declining creditworthiness and potential for insolvency of the issuer during periods of rising interest rates and economic slowdown or downturn. These risks may adversely affect the value of outstanding real estate-related securities and the ability of the issuers thereof to repay principal and interest or make distribution payments.

Investments in real estate-related preferred equity securities involve a greater risk of loss than traditional debt financing.

        We may invest in real estate-related preferred equity securities, which may involve a higher degree of risk than traditional debt financing due to a variety of factors, including that such investments are subordinate to traditional loans and are not secured by property underlying the investment. Furthermore, should the issuer default on our investment, we would be able to proceed only against the entity in which we have an interest, and not the property owned by such entity and underlying our investment. As a result, we may not recover some or all of our investment.

58

---

Table of Contents

We may make investments in non-U.S. dollar denominated property and real estate-related securities, which will be subject to currency rates exposure and the uncertainty of foreign laws and markets.

        We may purchase property or real estate-related securities denominated in foreign currencies. A change in foreign currency exchange rates may have an adverse impact on returns on our non-U.S. dollar denominated investments. Although we may hedge our foreign currency risk subject to the REIT income qualification tests, we may not be able to do so successfully and may incur losses on these investments as a result of exchange rate fluctuations. We expect that a portion of any real estate-related securities investments we make will be illiquid and we may not be able to adjust our portfolio in response to changes in economic and other conditions.

        Certain of the real estate-related securities that we may purchase in connection with privately negotiated transactions will not be registered under the applicable securities laws, resulting in a prohibition against their transfer, sale, pledge or other disposition except in a transaction that is exempt from the registration requirements of, or is otherwise in accordance with, those laws. As a result, our ability to vary our portfolio in response to changes in economic and other conditions may be relatively limited. The mezzanine and bridge loans we may purchase will be particularly illiquid investments due to their short life, their unsuitability for securitization and the greater difficulty of recoupment in the event of a borrower's default.

Interest rate and related risks may cause the value of our real estate-related securities to be reduced.

        Interest rate risk is the risk that prevailing market interest rates change relative to the current yield on fixed income securities such as preferred and debt securities, and to a lesser extent dividend paying common stock. Generally, when market interest rates rise, the market value of these securities declines, and vice versa. In addition, when interest rates fall, issuers are more likely to repurchase their existing preferred and debt securities to take advantage of the lower cost of financing. As repurchases occur, principal is returned to the holders of the securities sooner than expected, thereby lowering the effective yield on the investment. On the other hand, when interest rates rise, issuers are more likely to maintain their existing preferred and debt securities. As a result, repurchases decrease, thereby extending the average maturity of the securities. We intend to manage interest rate risk by purchasing preferred and debt securities with maturities and repurchase provisions that are designed to match our investment objectives. If we are unable to manage these risks effectively, our results of operations, financial condition and ability to pay distributions to you will be adversely affected.

We have relatively less experience investing in real estate-related securities than investing in real property, which could adversely affect our return on such investments.

        Aside from investments in real estate, we are permitted to invest in real estate-related securities, including securities issued by other real estate companies, collateralized mortgage-backed securities, mortgage, bridge, mezzanine or other loans and Section 1031 tenant-in-common interests. As of December 31, 2009, we own directly or through joint venture arrangements a limited number of mezzanine loans made to the owners of various development projects. In cases where our advisor determines that it is advantageous to us to make the types of investments in which our advisor or its affiliates have relatively less experience than in other areas, such as with respect to domestic real property, our advisor may employ persons, engage consultants or partner with third parties that have, in our advisor's opinion, the relevant expertise necessary to assist our advisor in evaluating, making and administering such investments.

59

---

Table of Contents

We may acquire real estate-related securities through tender offers, which may require us to spend significant amounts of time and money that otherwise could be allocated to our operations.

        We may acquire real estate-related securities through tender offers, negotiated or otherwise, in which we solicit a target company's stockholders to purchase their securities. The acquisition of these securities could require us to spend significant amounts of money that otherwise could be allocated to our operations. Additionally, in order to acquire the securities, the employees of our advisor likely will need to devote a substantial portion of their time to pursuing the tender offer—time that otherwise could be allocated to managing our business. These consequences could adversely affect our operations and reduce the cash available for distribution to our stockholders.

The CMBS in which we may invest are subject to all of the risks of the underlying mortgage loans and the risks of the securitization process.

        CMBS are securities that evidence interests in, or are secured by, a single commercial mortgage loan or a pool of commercial mortgage loans. Accordingly, these securities are subject to all of the risks of the underlying mortgage loans.

        In a rising interest rate environment, the value of CMBS may be adversely affected when payments on underlying mortgages do not occur as anticipated, resulting in the extension of the security's effective maturity and the related increase in interest rate sensitivity of a longer-term instrument. The value of CMBS may also change due to shifts in the market's perception of issuers and regulatory or tax changes adversely affecting the mortgage securities market as a whole. In addition, CMBS are subject to the credit risk associated with the performance of the underlying mortgage properties. In certain instances, third-party guarantees or other forms of credit support can reduce the credit risk.

        CMBS are also subject to several risks created through the securitization process. Subordinate CMBS are paid interest only to the extent that there are funds available to make payments. To the extent the collateral pool includes delinquent loans, there is a risk that interest payment on subordinate CMBS will not be fully paid. Subordinate CMBS are also subject to greater credit risk than those CMBS that are more highly rated.

If we use leverage in connection with any potential investments in CMBS, the risk of loss associated with this type of investment will increase.

        We may use leverage in connection with our investment in CMBS. Although the use of leverage may enhance returns and increase the number of investments that can be made, it may also substantially increase the risk of loss. There can be no assurance that leveraged financing will be available to us on favorable terms or that, among other factors, the terms of such financing will parallel the maturities of the underlying securities acquired. Therefore, such financing may mature prior to the maturity of the CMBS acquired by us. If alternative financing is not available, we may have to liquidate assets at unfavorable prices to pay off such financing. We may utilize repurchase agreements as a component of our financing strategy. Repurchase agreements economically resemble short-term, variable-rate financing and usually require the maintenance of specific loan-to-collateral value ratios. If the market value of the CMBS subject to a repurchase agreement decline, we may be required to provide additional collateral or make cash payments to maintain the loan to collateral value ratio. If we are unable to provide such collateral or cash repayments, we may lose our economic interest in the underlying CMBS.

We may have increased exposure to liabilities from litigation as a result of any participation by us in Section 1031 Tenant-in-Common transactions.

        Behringer Development, an affiliate of our advisor, or its affiliates ("Behringer Harvard Exchange Entities") regularly enter into transactions that qualify for like-kind exchange treatment under

60

---

Table of Contents

Section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code. Section 1031 tenant-in-common transactions ("Section 1031 TIC Transactions") are structured as the acquisition of real estate owned in co-tenancy arrangements with parties seeking to defer taxes under Section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code ("1031 Participants"). We may provide accommodation in support of or otherwise be involved in such Section 1031 TIC Transactions. Specifically, at the closing of certain properties acquired by a Behringer Harvard Exchange Entity, we may enter into a contractual arrangement with such entity providing: (1) in the event that the Behringer Harvard Exchange Entity is unable to sell all of the co-tenancy interests in that property to 1031 Participants, we will purchase, at the Behringer Harvard Exchange Entity's cost, any co-tenancy interests remaining unsold; (2) we will guarantee certain bridge loans associated with the purchase of the property in which tenant-in-common interests are to be sold; and/or (3) we will provide security for the guarantee of such bridge loans. Although our participation in Section 1031 TIC Transactions may have certain benefits to our business, including enabling us to invest capital more readily and over a more diversified portfolio and allowing us to acquire interests in properties that we would be unable to acquire using our own capital resources, there are significant tax and securities disclosure risks associated with the related offerings of co-tenancy interests to 1031 Participants. Changes in tax laws may negatively impact the tax benefits of like-kind exchanges or cause such transactions not to achieve their intended value. In certain Section 1031 TIC Transactions it is anticipated that we would receive fees in connection with our provision of accommodation in support of the transaction and, as such, even though we do not sponsor these Section 1031 TIC Transactions, we may be named in or otherwise required to defend against any lawsuits brought by 1031 Participants because of our affiliation with sponsors of such transactions. Furthermore, in the event that the Internal Revenue Service conducts an audit of the purchasers of co-tenancy interests and successfully challenges the qualification of the transaction as a like-kind exchange, purchasers of co-tenancy interests may file a lawsuit against the entity offering the co-tenancy interests, its sponsors, and/or us. We may be involved in one or more such offerings and could therefore be named in or otherwise required to defend against lawsuits brought by 1031 Participants. Any amounts we are required to expend defending any such claims will reduce the amount of funds available to us for investment by us in properties or other investments and may reduce the amount of funds available for distribution to our stockholders. In addition, disclosure of any such litigation may adversely affect our ability to raise additional capital in the future through the sale of stock.

We may have increased business and litigation risks as a result of any direct sales by us of tenant-in-common interests in Section 1031 Tenant-in-Common transactions.

        We may directly sell tenant-in-common interests in our properties to 1031 Participants, which may expose us to significant tax and securities disclosure risks. Changes in tax laws may negatively impact the tax benefits of like-kind exchanges or cause such transactions not to achieve their intended value. Furthermore, the Internal Revenue Service may determine that the sale of tenant-in-common interests is a "prohibited transaction" under the Internal Revenue Code, which would cause all of the gain we realize from any such sale to be payable as a tax to the Internal Revenue Service, with none of such gain available for distribution to our stockholders. The Internal Revenue Service may conduct an audit of the purchasers of tenant-in-common interests and successfully challenge the qualification of the transaction as a like-kind exchange. We may be named in or otherwise required to defend against any lawsuits brought by stockholders or 1031 Participants in connection with Section 1031 TIC Transactions in which we directly sell tenant-in-common interests. In addition, as a seller of tenant-in-common interests, we will be required to comply with applicable federal and state securities laws and to provide fair and adequate disclosure to 1031 Participants relating to the respective Section 1031 TIC Transaction. Any alleged failure by us to comply with these requirements could expose us to risks of litigation. Any amounts we are required to expend in defending claims brought against us will reduce the amount of funds available for us to invest in properties or other investments and may reduce the amount of funds available for distribution to our stockholders. In addition, disclosure of any such litigation may adversely affect our ability to raise additional capital in the future through the sale of stock.

61

---

Table of Contents

A portion of the properties we acquire may be in the form of tenant-in-common or other co-tenancy arrangements. We will be subject to risks associated with such co-tenancy arrangements that otherwise may not be present in non-co-tenancy real estate investments.

        We may enter in tenant-in-common or other co-tenancy arrangements with respect to a portion of the properties we acquire. Whether acquired as a planned co-tenancy or as the result of an accommodation or other arrangement disclosed above, ownership of co-tenancy interests involves risks generally not otherwise present with an investment in real estate, including the following:

•

the risk that a co-tenant may at any time have economic or business interests or goals that are or become inconsistent with our business interests or goals;



•

the risk that a co-tenant may be in a position to take action contrary to our instructions, requests or to our policies or objectives;



•

the possibility that an individual co-tenant might become insolvent or bankrupt, or otherwise default under the applicable mortgage loan financing documents, which may constitute an event of default under all of the applicable mortgage loan financing documents or allow the bankruptcy court to reject the tenants-in-common agreement or management agreement entered into by the co-tenants owning interests in the property;



•

the possibility that a co-tenant might not have adequate liquid assets to make cash advances that may be required in order to fund operations, maintenance and other expenses related to the property, which could result in the loss of current or prospective tenants and may otherwise adversely affect the operation and maintenance of the property, and could cause a default under the mortgage loan financing documents applicable to the property and may result in late charges, penalties and interest, and may lead to the exercise of foreclosure and other remedies by the lender;



•

the risk that a co-tenant could breach agreements related to the property, which may cause a default under, or result in personal liability for, the applicable mortgage loan financing documents, violate applicable securities law and otherwise adversely affect the property and the co-tenancy arrangement; or



•

the risk that a default by any co-tenant would constitute a default under the applicable mortgage loan financing documents that could result in a foreclosure and the loss of all or a substantial portion of the investment made by the co-tenants.

Actions by a co-tenant might have the result of subjecting the property to liabilities in excess of those contemplated and may have the effect of reducing your returns.

        In the event that our interests become adverse to those of the other co-tenants in a Section 1031 TIC Transaction, we may not have the contractual right to purchase the co-tenancy interests from the other co-tenants. Even if we are given the opportunity to purchase such co-tenancy interests in the future, we cannot guarantee that we will have sufficient funds available at the time to purchase such co-tenancy interests. In addition, we may desire to sell our co-tenancy interests in a given property at a time when the other co-tenants in such property do not desire to sell their interests. Therefore, we may not be able to sell our interest in a property at the time we would like to sell. Finally, it is anticipated that it will be much more difficult to find a willing buyer for our co-tenancy interests in a property than it would be to find a buyer for a property we owned outright.

62

---

Table of Contents

Our participation in Section 1031 TIC Transactions may limit our ability to borrow funds in the future, which could adversely affect the value of our investments.

        Section 1031 TIC Transaction agreements we may enter that contain obligations to acquire unsold co-tenancy interests in properties may be viewed by institutional lenders as a contingent liability against our cash or other assets, which may limit our ability to borrow funds in the future. Furthermore, such obligations may be viewed by our lenders in such a manner as to limit our ability to borrow funds based on regulatory restrictions on lenders limiting the amount of loans they can make to any one borrower.

Our operating results will be negatively affected if our investments, including investments in tenant-in-common interests promoted by affiliates of our advisor, do not meet projected distribution levels.

        Behringer Harvard Holdings and its affiliates have promoted a number of tenant-in-common real estate projects. Some of these projects have not met the distribution levels anticipated in the projections produced by Behringer Harvard Holdings and its affiliates. In addition, certain other projects have not achieved the leasing and operational thresholds projected by Behringer Harvard Holdings and its affiliates. If projections related to our investments, including any tenant-in-common interests in which we invest, are inaccurate, we may pay too much for an investment and our return on our investment could suffer.

        Specifically, several tenant-in-common investment programs have not benefited from expected leasing improvements. Behringer Harvard Holdings has provided support for some of these programs in the form of leases for vacant space and other payments. In addition, the Beau Terre Office Park tenant-in-common program underperformed relative to projections that were based on seller representations that Behringer Harvard Holdings now believes to be false. With respect to this program, Behringer Harvard Holdings has completed a settlement with the investors to support their returns and is pursuing a claim against the former on-site property manager and others on behalf of the stockholders and itself. In addition, in November 2007, Behringer Harvard Holdings and the investors completed a settlement with the seller and its agent.

Federal Income Tax Risks

Failure to qualify as a REIT would adversely affect our operations and our ability to make distributions.

        In order for us to qualify as a REIT, we must satisfy certain requirements set forth in the Code and Treasury Regulations and various factual matters and circumstances that are not entirely within our control. We intend to structure our activities in a manner designed to satisfy all of these requirements. However, if certain of our operations were to be recharacterized by the Internal Revenue Service, such recharacterization could jeopardize our ability to satisfy all of the requirements for qualification as a REIT and may affect our ability to qualify, or continue to qualify, as a REIT. In addition, new legislation, new regulations, administrative interpretations or court decisions could significantly change the tax laws with respect to qualifying as a REIT or the federal income tax consequences of qualifying.

        Our qualification as a REIT depends upon our ability to meet, through investments, actual operating results, distributions and satisfaction of specific stockholder rules, the various tests imposed by the Code. We cannot assure you that we will satisfy the REIT requirements in the future.

        If we fail to qualify as a REIT for any taxable year, we will be subject to federal income tax on our taxable income for that year at corporate rates. In addition, we would generally be disqualified from treatment as a REIT for the four taxable years following the year of losing our REIT status. Losing our REIT status would reduce our net earnings available for investment or distribution to stockholders because of the additional tax liability. In addition, distributions to stockholders would no longer qualify for the distributions-paid deduction, and we would no longer be required to make

63

---

Table of Contents

distributions. If this occurs, we might be required to borrow funds or liquidate some investments in order to pay the applicable tax. Our failure to qualify as a REIT would adversely affect the return on your investment.

        Qualification as a REIT is subject to the satisfaction of tax requirements and various factual matters and circumstances that are not entirely within our control. New legislation, regulations, administrative interpretations or court decisions could change the tax laws with respect to qualification as a REIT or the federal income tax consequences of being a REIT. Our failure to qualify as a REIT would adversely affect your return on your investment.

Our investment strategy may cause us to incur penalty taxes, lose our REIT status, or own and sell properties through taxable REIT subsidiaries, each of which would diminish the return to our stockholders.

        It is possible that one or more sales of our properties may be "prohibited transactions" under provisions of the Internal Revenue Code. If we are deemed to have engaged in a "prohibited transaction" (i.e., we sell a property held by us primarily for sale in the ordinary course of our trade or business) all income that we derive from such sale would be subject to a 100% penalty tax. The Internal Revenue Code sets forth a safe harbor for REITs that wish to sell property without risking the imposition of the 100% penalty tax. A principal requirement of the safe harbor is that the REIT must hold the applicable property for not less than two years prior to its sale.

        If we desire to sell a property pursuant to a transaction that does not fall within the safe harbor, we may be able to avoid the 100% penalty tax if we acquired the property through a taxable REIT subsidiary ("TRS"), or acquired the property and transferred it to a TRS for a non-tax business purpose prior to the sale (i.e., for a reason other than the avoidance of taxes). However, there may be circumstances that prevent us from using a TRS in a transaction that does not qualify for the safe harbor. Additionally, even if it is possible to effect a property disposition through a TRS, we may decide to forgo the use of a TRS in a transaction that does not meet the safe harbor requirements based on our own internal analysis, the opinion of counsel or the opinion of other tax advisers that the disposition should not be subject to the 100% penalty tax. In cases where a property disposition is not effected through a TRS, the Internal Revenue Service could successfully assert that the disposition constitutes a prohibited transaction, in which event all of the net income from the sale of such property will be payable as a tax and none of the proceeds from such sale will be distributable by us to our stockholders or available for investment by us.

        If we acquire a property that we anticipate will not fall within the safe harbor from the 100% penalty tax upon disposition, then we may acquire such property through a TRS in order to avoid the possibility that the sale of such property will be a prohibited transaction and subject to the 100% penalty tax. If we already own such a property directly or indirectly through an entity other than a TRS, we may contribute the property to a TRS if there is another, non-tax related business purpose for the contribution of such property to the TRS. Following the transfer of the property to a TRS, the TRS will operate the property and may sell such property and distribute the net proceeds from such sale to us, and we may distribute the net proceeds distributed to us by the TRS to our stockholders. Though a sale of the property by a TRS likely would eliminate the danger of the application of the 100% penalty tax, the TRS itself would be subject to a tax at the federal level, and potentially at the state and local levels, on the gain realized by it from the sale of the property as well as on the income earned while the property is operated by the TRS. This tax obligation would diminish the amount of the proceeds from the sale of such property that would be distributable to our stockholders. As a result, the amount available for distribution to our stockholders would be substantially less than if the REIT had not operated and sold such property through the TRS and such transaction was not successfully characterized as a prohibited transaction. The maximum federal corporate income tax rate currently is 35%. Federal, state and local corporate income tax rates may be increased in the future, and any such increase would reduce the amount of the net proceeds available for distribution by us to

64

---

Table of Contents

our stockholders from the sale of property through a TRS after the effective date of any increase in such tax rates.

        As a REIT, the value of the non-mortgage securities we hold in TRSs may not exceed 25% of the total value of our assets at the end of any calendar quarter. If the Internal Revenue Service were to determine that the value of our interests in all of our TRSs exceeded this limit at the end of any calendar quarter, then we would fail to qualify as a REIT. If we determine it to be in our best interests to own a substantial number of our properties through one or more TRSs, then it is possible that the Internal Revenue Service may conclude that the value of our interests in our TRSs exceeds 25% of the value of our total assets at the end of any calendar quarter and therefore cause us to fail to qualify as a REIT. Additionally, as a REIT, no more than 25% of our gross income with respect to any year may, in general, be from sources other than real estate-related assets. Distributions paid to us from a TRS are typically considered to be non-real estate income. Therefore, we may fail to qualify as a REIT if distributions from all of our TRSs, when aggregated with all other non-real estate income with respect to any one year, are more than 25% of our gross income with respect to such year. We will use all reasonable efforts to structure our activities in a manner intended to satisfy the requirements for our continued qualification as a REIT. Our failure to qualify as a REIT would adversely affect the return on your investment.

REIT distribution requirements could adversely affect our ability to execute our business plan.

        We generally must distribute annually at least 90% of our REIT taxable income, subject to certain adjustments and excluding any net capital gain, in order for federal corporate income tax not to apply to earnings that we distribute. To the extent that we satisfy this distribution requirement, but distribute less than 100% of our REIT taxable income, we will be subject to federal corporate income tax on our undistributed REIT taxable income. In addition, we will be subject to a 4% non-deductible excise tax if the actual amount that we pay out to our stockholders in a calendar year is less than a minimum amount specified under federal tax laws. We intend to make distributions to our stockholders to comply with the REIT requirements of the Internal Revenue Code.

Certain fees paid to us may affect our REIT status.

        Income received in the nature of rental subsidies or rent guarantees, in some cases, may not qualify as rental income and could be characterized by the Internal Revenue Service as non-qualifying income for purposes of satisfying the "income tests" required for REIT qualification. In addition, in connection with our Section 1031 TIC Transactions, we or one of our affiliates may enter into a number of contractual arrangements with Behringer Harvard Exchange Entities whereby we will guarantee or effectively guarantee the sale of the co-tenancy interests being offered by any Behringer Harvard Exchange Entity. In consideration for entering into these agreements, we will be paid fees that could be characterized by the Internal Revenue Service as non-qualifying income for purposes of satisfying the "income tests" required for REIT qualification. If this fee income were, in fact, treated as non-qualifying, and if the aggregate of such fee income and any other non-qualifying income in any taxable year ever exceeded 5% of our gross revenues for such year, we could lose our REIT status for that taxable year and the four taxable years following the year of losing our REIT status. We will use commercially reasonable efforts to structure our activities in a manner intended to satisfy the requirements for our continued qualification as a REIT. Our failure to qualify as a REIT would adversely affect the return on your investment.

Equity participation in mortgage, bridge and mezzanine loans may result in taxable income and gains from these properties, which could adversely impact our REIT status.

        If we participate under a loan in any appreciation of the properties securing the loan or its cash flow and the Internal Revenue Service characterizes this participation as "equity," we might have to

65

---

Table of Contents

recognize income, gains and other items from the property for federal income tax purposes. This could affect our ability to qualify as a REIT.

Recharacterization of the Section 1031 TIC Transactions may result in taxation of income from a prohibited transaction, which would diminish distributions to our stockholders.

        In the event that the Internal Revenue Service were to recharacterize the Section 1031 TIC Transactions such that we, rather than the Behringer Harvard Exchange Entity, are treated as the bona fide owner, for tax purposes, of properties acquired and resold by the Behringer Harvard Exchange Entity in connection with the Section 1031 TIC Transactions, such characterization could result in the fees paid to us by the Behringer Harvard Exchange Entity as being deemed income from a prohibited transaction, in which event the fee income paid to us in connection with the Section 1031 TIC Transactions would be subject to the 100% penalty tax. If this occurs, our ability to make cash distributions to our stockholders will be adversely affected.

You may have current tax liability on distributions you elect to reinvest in our common stock.

        If you participate in our distribution reinvestment plan, you will be deemed to have received, and for income tax purposes will be taxed on, the amount reinvested in shares of our common stock to the extent the amount reinvested was not a tax-free return of capital. In addition, you will be treated for tax purposes as having received an additional distribution to the extent the shares are purchased at a discount to fair market value. As a result, unless you are a tax-exempt entity, you may have to use funds from other sources to pay your tax liability on the value of the shares of common stock received.

If our operating partnership fails to maintain its status as a partnership or other flow-through entity for tax purposes, its income may be subject to taxation, which would reduce the cash available to us for distribution to our stockholders.

        We intend to maintain the status of Behringer Harvard Multifamily OP I, our operating partnership, as a partnership (or other flow-through entity) for federal income tax purposes. However, if the Internal Revenue Service were to successfully challenge the status of the operating partnership as an entity taxable as a partnership, Behringer Harvard Multifamily OP I would be taxable as a corporation. In such event, this would reduce the amount of distributions that the operating partnership could make to us. This could also result in our losing REIT status, and becoming subject to a corporate level tax on our income. This would substantially reduce the cash available to us to make distributions and the return on your investment. In addition, if any of the partnerships or limited liability companies through which the operating partnership owns its properties, in whole or in part, loses its characterization as a partnership for federal income tax purposes, it would be subject to taxation as a corporation, thereby reducing distributions to the operating partnership. Such a recharacterization of an underlying property owner could also threaten our ability to maintain REIT status.

In certain circumstances, we may be subject to federal and state taxes, which would reduce our cash available for distribution to our stockholders.

        Even if we qualify and maintain our status as a REIT, we may become subject to federal and state taxes. For example, if we have net income from a "prohibited transaction," such income will be subject to the 100% penalty tax. We may not be able to make sufficient distributions to avoid excise taxes applicable to REITs. We may also decide to retain income we earn from the sale or other disposition of our assets and pay income tax directly on such income. In that event, our stockholders would be treated as if they earned that income and paid the tax on it directly. We may also be subject to state and local taxes, including potentially the "margin tax" in the State of Texas, on our income or property, either directly or at the level of the operating partnership or at the level of the other companies

66

---

Table of Contents

through which we indirectly own our assets. Any federal or state taxes paid by us will reduce the cash available to us for distribution to our stockholders.

We may be disqualified from treatment as a REIT if a joint venture entity elects to qualify as a REIT and is later disqualified from treatment as a REIT.

        As part of our joint ventures, such as our joint ventures with our BHMP Co-Investment Partner or future joint ventures with any other Behringer Harvard-sponsored investment program, we have and we may in the future form subsidiary REITs that will acquire and hold assets, such as a co-investment project owned through a joint venture with our BHMP Co-Investment Partner. In order to qualify as a REIT, among numerous other requirements, each subsidiary REIT must have at least 100 persons as beneficial owners after the first taxable year for which it makes an election to be taxed as a REIT and satisfy all of the other requirements for REITs under the Internal Revenue Code. We may be unable to satisfy these requirements for the subsidiary REITs created in our joint ventures with the BHMP Co-Investment Partner or other joint ventures. In the event that a subsidiary REIT is disqualified from treatment as a REIT for whatever reason, we will be disqualified from treatment as a REIT as well absent our ability to comply with certain relief provisions, which are unlikely to be available. If we were disqualified from treatment as a REIT we would lose the ability to deduct from our income distributions that we make to our stockholders, and there would be a negative impact on our operations and our stockholders' investment in us.

A subsidiary REIT may become subject to state taxation.

        Certain states are currently considering whether to tax captive REITs, such as the subsidiary REITs. If any subsidiary REIT becomes subject to state taxation, that subsidiary REIT's results of operations could be negatively affected.

Non-U.S. income or other taxes, and a requirement to withhold any non-U.S. taxes, may apply, and, if so, the amount of net cash from operations payable to you will be reduced.

        We may acquire real property located outside the United States and may invest in stock or other securities of entities owning real property located outside the United States. As a result, we may be subject to foreign (i.e., non-U.S.) income taxes, stamp taxes, real property conveyance taxes, withholding taxes, and other foreign taxes or similar impositions in connection with our ownership of foreign real property or foreign securities. The country in which the real property is located may impose such taxes regardless of whether we are profitable and in addition to any U.S. income tax or other U.S. taxes imposed on profits from our investments in such real property or securities. If a foreign country imposes income taxes on profits from our investment in foreign real property or foreign securities, you will not be eligible to claim a tax credit on your U.S. federal income tax returns to offset the income taxes paid to the foreign country, and the imposition of any foreign taxes in connection with our ownership and operation of foreign real property or our investment in securities of foreign entities will reduce the amounts distributable to you. Similarly, the imposition of withholding taxes by a foreign country will reduce the amounts distributable to you. We expect the organizational costs associated with non-U.S. investments, including costs to structure the investments so as to minimize the impact of foreign taxes, will be higher than those associated with U.S. investments. Moreover, we may be required to file income tax or other information returns in foreign jurisdictions as a result of our investments made outside of the United States. Any organizational costs and reporting requirements will increase our administrative expenses and reduce the amount of cash available for distribution to you. You are urged to consult with your own tax advisers with respect to the impact of applicable non-U.S. taxes and tax withholding requirements on an investment in our common stock.

67

---

Table of Contents

Our foreign investments will be subject to changes in foreign tax or other laws, as well as to changes in U.S. tax laws, and such changes could negatively impact our returns from any particular investment.

        We may make investments in real estate located outside of the United States. Such investments will typically be structured to minimize non-U.S. taxes, and generally include the use of holding companies. Our ownership, operation and disposition strategy with respect to non-U.S. investments will take into account foreign tax considerations. For example, it is typically advantageous from a tax perspective in non-U.S. jurisdictions to sell interests in a holding company that owns real estate rather than the real estate itself. Buyers of such entities, however, will often discount their purchase price by any inherent or expected tax in such entity. Additionally, the pool of buyers for interests in such holding companies is typically more limited than buyers of direct interests in real estate, and we may be forced to dispose of real estate directly, thus potentially incurring higher foreign taxes and negatively effecting the return on the investment.

        We will also capitalize our holding companies with debt and equity to reduce foreign income and withholding taxes as appropriate and with consultation with local counsel in each jurisdiction. Such capitalization structures are complex and potentially subject to challenge by foreign and domestic taxing authorities.

        We may use certain holding structures for our non-U.S. investments to accommodate the needs of one class of investors which reduce the after-tax returns to other classes of investors. For example, if we interpose an entity treated as a corporation for United States tax purposes in our chain of ownership with respect to any particular investment, U.S. tax-exempt investors will generally benefit as such investment will no longer generate unrelated business taxable income. However, if a corporate entity is interposed in a non-U.S. investment holding structure, this would prevent individual investors from claiming a foreign tax credit for any non-U.S. income taxes incurred by the corporate entity or its subsidiaries.

        Foreign investments are subject to changes in foreign tax or other laws. Any such law changes may require us to modify or abandon a particular holding structure. Such changes may also lead to higher tax rates on our foreign investments than we anticipated, regardless of structuring modifications. Additionally, U.S. tax laws with respect to foreign investments are subject to change, and such changes could negatively impact our returns from any particular investment.

Legislative or regulatory action could adversely affect the returns to our investors.

        In recent years, numerous legislative, judicial and administrative changes have been made in the provisions of the federal income tax laws applicable to investments similar to an investment in shares of our common stock. Additional changes to the tax laws are likely to continue to occur, and we cannot assure you that any such changes will not adversely affect the taxation of a stockholder. Any such changes could have an adverse effect on an investment in our shares or on the market value or the resale potential of our assets. You are urged to consult with your own tax adviser with respect to the impact of recent legislation on your investment in our shares and the status of legislative, regulatory or administrative developments and proposals and their potential effect on an investment in our shares. You also should note that our counsel's tax opinion was based upon existing law and Treasury Regulations, applicable as of the date of its opinion, all of which are subject to change, either prospectively or retroactively.

        Congress passed major federal tax legislation in 2003, with modifications to that legislation in 2005. One of the changes effected by that legislation generally reduced the tax rate on dividends paid by corporations to individuals to a maximum of 15% prior to 2011. REIT distributions generally do not qualify for this reduced rate. The tax changes did not, however, reduce the corporate tax rates. Therefore, the maximum corporate tax rate of 35% has not been affected. However, as a REIT, we generally would not be subject to federal or state corporate income taxes on that portion of our

68

---

Table of Contents

ordinary income or capital gain that we distribute currently to our stockholders, and we thus expect to avoid the "double taxation" to which other corporations are typically subject.

        Although REITs continue to receive substantially better tax treatment than entities taxed as corporations, it is possible that future legislation would result in a REIT having fewer tax advantages, and it could become more advantageous for a company that invests in real estate to elect to be taxed for federal income tax purposes as a corporation. As a result, our charter provides our board of directors with the power, under certain circumstances, to revoke or otherwise terminate our REIT election and cause us to be taxed as a corporation, without the vote of our stockholders. Our board of directors has fiduciary duties to us and our stockholders and could only cause such changes in our tax treatment if it determines in good faith that such changes are in the best interest of our stockholders.

Risks Related to Investments by Tax-Exempt Entities and Benefit Plans Subject to ERISA

If you fail to meet the fiduciary and other standards under ERISA or the Internal Revenue Code as a result of an investment in our stock, you could be subject to criminal and civil penalties.

        There are special considerations that apply to employee benefit plans subject to ERISA (such as profit sharing, section 401(k) or pension plans) and other retirement plans or accounts subject to Section 4975 of the Internal Revenue Code (such as an IRA) that are investing in our shares. If you are investing the assets of such a plan or account in our common stock, you should satisfy yourself that:

•

your investment is consistent with your fiduciary obligations and other under ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code;



•

your investment is made in accordance with the documents and instruments governing your plan or IRA, including your plan's or account's investment policy;



•

your investment satisfies the prudence and diversification requirements of Sections 404(a)(1)(B) and 404(a)(1)(C) of ERISA and other applicable provisions of ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code;



•

your investment in our shares, for which no public trading market exists, is consistent with the liquidity needs of the plan or IRA;



•

your investment will not produce an unacceptable amount of "unrelated business taxable income" for the plan or IRA;



•

you will be able to comply with the requirements under ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code to value the assets of the plan or IRA annually; and



•

your investment will not constitute a prohibited transaction under Section 406 of ERISA or Section 4975 of the Internal Revenue Code.

        We have adopted a valuation policy in respect of estimating the per share value of our common stock and expect to disclose such estimated value annually, but this estimated value is subject to significant limitations. Until 18 months have passed without a sale in an offering of our common stock (or other securities from which the board of directors believes the value of a share of common stock can be estimated), not including any offering related to a distribution reinvestment plan, employee benefit plan or the redemption of interests in our operating partnership, we generally will use the gross offering price of a share of the common stock in our most recent offering as the per share estimated value thereof or, with respect to an offering of other securities from which the value of a share of common stock can be estimated, the value derived from the gross offering price of the other security as the per share estimated value of the common stock. This estimated value is not likely to reflect the proceeds you would receive upon our liquidation or upon the sale of your shares. Accordingly, we can make no assurances that such estimated value will satisfy the applicable annual valuation requirements

69

---

Table of Contents

under ERISA and the Code. The Department of Labor or the Internal Revenue Service may determine that a plan fiduciary or an IRA custodian is required to take further steps to determine the value of our common shares. In the absence of an appropriate determination of value, a plan fiduciary or an IRA custodian may be subject to damages, penalties or other sanctions. See Item 5, "Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters, and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities—Market Information" of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

        Failure to satisfy the fiduciary standards of conduct and other applicable requirements of ERISA and the Code may result in the imposition of civil and criminal penalties and could subject the fiduciary to claims for damages or for equitable remedies. In addition, if an investment in our shares constitutes a prohibited transaction under ERISA or the Code, the fiduciary or IRA owner who authorized or directed the investment may be subject to the imposition of excise taxes with respect to the amount invested. In the case of a prohibited transaction involving an IRA owner, the IRA may be disqualified and all of the assets of the IRA may be deemed distributed and subjected to tax. ERISA plan fiduciaries and IRA custodians should consult with counsel before making an investment in our common shares.

Item 1B.    Unresolved Staff Comments.

        None.

Item 2.    Properties.

Description of Properties and Real Estate-Related Assets

        We make real estate investments through entities wholly owned by us or through unconsolidated real estate joint ventures. Our investment criteria, analysis and strategies are substantially the same under either ownership structure. We do expect the proportion of wholly owned multifamily communities to increase over time. As of December 31, 2009, we had three wholly owned multifamily communities, one note receivable and 17 investments in unconsolidated real estate joint ventures. As of December 31, 2008, we had ten investments in unconsolidated real estate joint ventures and no wholly owned multifamily communities.

        All of our investments in unconsolidated real estate joint ventures are BHMP CO-JVs. Our ownership interest in each BHMP CO-JV is generally 55%; however, the BHMP Co-Investment Partner may elect a smaller interest than 45%. Regardless of our ownership interest, we, through an indirect wholly owed subsidiary, are the manager of each of the BHMP CO-JVs. As of December 31, 2009, each BHMP CO-JV has two members, and each BHMP CO-JV member possesses equal substantive participating rights to make decisions which constitute routine occurrences in each BHMP CO-JV's ordinary course of business. These decisions include the requirement to approve initial and annual operating plans, initial and annual capital expenditures, any sales or dispositions of investments, and, any method of refinancing or raising additional debt or equity capital. Investments in other Co-Investment Ventures may be on other terms. We are not limited to BHMP CO-JVs, and we may choose other joint venture partners or investment structures.

        Our wholly owned multifamily communities have been and are generally expected to be accounted for on the full consolidation basis of accounting. When consolidated, we will report 100% of their revenues and expenses and their assets and liabilities, recording a net amount for the noncontrolling interest. In addition, each BHMP CO-JV has been and any new Co-Investment Ventures will be evaluated for consolidation or equity method accounting. With respect to our existing BHMP CO-JVs, as a result of the equal substantive participating rights possessed by each partner, no single party controls each BHMP CO-JV. Accordingly, we account for each BHMP CO-JV using the equity method of accounting. The equity method of accounting requires these investments to be initially recorded at cost, including acquisition costs, and subsequently increased (decreased) for our share of net income

70

---

Table of Contents

(loss), including eliminations for our share of inter-company transactions and reduced when distributions are received. Accordingly, there are significant differences in the financial presentation between wholly owned and equity method investments.

        The following presents our wholly owned real estate investments and our investments in unconsolidated real estate joint ventures as of December 31, 2009. The investments are categorized based on the type of investment, on the stages in the development and operation of the investment and for investments in unconsolidated real estate joint ventures based on its type of underlying investment. The definitions of each stage are as follows:

•

Stabilized / Comparable are communities that are stabilized (the earlier of 90% occupancy or one year after completion of construction or acquisition) for both the current and prior reporting year.



•

Stabilized / Non-comparable are communities that have been stabilized or acquired after January 1, 2008.



•

Lease ups are communities that have commenced leasing but have not yet reached stabilization.



•

Developments are communities currently under construction and leasing activity has not commenced.

        Occupancy data is presented upon stabilization of the property.

Investments in Real Estate

71

---

Table of Contents

---

(1)

Purchase price of The Gallery at NoHo Commons was $96.0 million, before normal closing costs and prorations.

(2)

Our ownership interest in all our investments in unconsolidated real estate joint ventures is 55% except for The Reserve at Johns Creek Walk (64%) and Cyan/PDX (70%).

(3)

Equity investment in a BHMP CO-JV in a Property Entity with unaffiliated third parties.

(4)

Equity investment wholly owned by a BHMP CO-JV.

(5)

Through November 12, 2009, the BHMP CO-JV had an equity investment in a Property Entity that included a third party developer. Subsequent to November 12, 2009, the BHMP CO-JV wholly owned the multifamily community.

(6)

Includes retail space, where the total approximate square footage of retail space of gross leasable area ("GLA") for all these investments totals 34,540 square feet, approximately 2% of total rentable area.

(7)

Through November 23, 2009, the BHMP CO-JV had a mezzanine loan investment and an equity interest in a Property Entity that included a third party developer. Subsequent to November 23, 2009, the BHMP CO-JV contributed additional equity and the mezzanine loan investment was converted to an equity investment.

(8)

Equity interest in the property owned by BHMP CO-JV and/or other owners may be subject to call rights, put rights and/or buy sell rights and/or right of BHMP CO-JV to convert mezzanine loan to equity in the property.

(9)

Through November 30, 2009, the BHMP CO-JV had a mezzanine loan investment in a Property Entity owned by a third-party developer. Subsequent to November 30, 2009, the BHMP CO-JV contributed additional equity and the mezzanine loan investment was converted into an equity investment.

(10)

Mezzanine loan investment and equity investment by a BHMP CO-JV in a joint venture with unaffiliated third parties.

(11)

Mezzanine loan investment by a BHMP CO-JV.

---

(1)

A description of the maximum number of shares that may be purchased under our redemption program is included in the narrative preceding this table.