Apartment demand has exceeded expectations this year, with clear effects across other industry metrics. New supply has started to recede from its 2024 peak as anticipated, but higher-than-expected net absorption has moved up the timeline for occupancy recovery. All numbers will refer to conventional properties of at least fifty units. Strongest Summer Since 2021 April…
The link between demand and rent growth shapes investment and management decisions in multifamily. Rolling correlation analysis, which tracks this relationship over a 12-month window, can reveal dynamic market shifts. Using data from July 2017 to July 2025, we analyzed national trends and four illustrative markets – Nashville, New York (NYC), Chicago, and Detroit. Understanding…
The most prominent driver of multifamily performance over the last few years has been new supply. The sustained deluge of new units that entered the market across the country in recent years was unlike anything seen since the peak years of the 1970s and 1980s. This surge in supply was paired with inconsistent apartment demand…
The second half of 2025 has arrived and there has been plenty of action in the multifamily industry so far this year. In addition to checking in on the various performance metrics at mid-year, now makes for an opportune time to return to the January newsletter. That month we laid out expectations for 2025. Now,…
2025 has gotten off to an unusually volatile start for apartment demand on a month-over-month basis. Despite these early fluctuations, longer-term trends are uniformly positive. Both over the last twelve months, and year-to-date through April, national net absorption has continued along an upward trajectory that began in 2023. Encouragingly, the continued improvement has been widespread…
Apartment demand has been unusually volatile month-over-month to begin the year. Even so, national net absorption through April was significantly higher than that from 2024. This year is the third consecutive year of improved multifamily demand for this portion of the calendar. In order to provide a clear picture of market leaders in net absorption…
A more detailed analysis of multifamily performance in the first quarter will be the subject of the forthcoming ALN newsletter for April. In broad strokes, new supply continued its surge, apartment demand cooled, and rent growth picked up. One area below the national level in which some clear differences emerged was price class performance. All…
Just one month into the new year, there are already interesting developments occurring in multifamily performance.
2024 was a key step in the right direction for the multifamily industry. In the face of historic new supply pressure, the decline in national average occupancy was smaller than in 2022 or 2023. Net absorption showed robust annual improvement for a second straight year. Average effective rent growth for new leases more than doubled…
