Multifamily
General

No Vacancy: The U.S. Apartment Market Is Full

No Vacancy: The U.S. Apartment Market Is Full

In cities across the country, apartment hunters are in for a difficult time finding a place to call home – the U.S. multifamily market is effectively full, a phenomenon which has never occurred before.

RealPage reports that 97.5% of professionally managed apartment units are under lease contract as of December, a record-breaking level of occupancy. This also reflects that demand for apartments has been at an all-time high – the U.S. apartment market absorbed 673,000 units in 2021, and developers are now rushing to create more supply.

Subscribe now for more CONTI insights

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Multifamily occupancy 1996-2021

The occupancy rate is good news for property managers, who can relax knowing they’re turning a reliable profit from locked-in leasees. Any vacancies that are available are likely to fill quickly without the need for property managers to offer concessions on rent. Concessions overall will likely be fewer and further between in 2022, Globe St. projects.

A full apartment market also serves as a buffer against other economic uncertainties – even if the job market slips, it will have limited impact on multifamily assets.

As supply increases and the economy normalizes, CONTI expects the occupancy rate across markets to fall somewhat – but the change would be welcome; some movement of renters between apartments would mean more ability for property managers to bump up rent prices.