The national apartment market enjoyed its strongest January of the post-recession period last month, recording annual effective rent growth of 4.9% and occupancy of 94.6%, according to Axiometrics apartment data.
Occupancy remained at 94.6% in January 2015. As was the case with effective rent growth, last month’s occupancy rate was the highest of any January since Axiometrics started recording the metric monthly in April 2008.
This follows the trends noted in CORT’s Rental Market Review – 2014. We present data to illustrate the impact of new supply of apartment units built, and the effect on demand from the improving job market and rising number of new households. The increase in rental cost tracked very consistently with the low vacancy rates, not only in coastal cities but in many other strong markets.
Plan Well in 2015
The creation of new households will continue to outpace the rate of new inventory, and deliver strong demand to the rental market. Vacancy rates will stay at or near YE 2014 levels throughout 2015, creating challenges for relocation service providers who work with rental assignees. Suppliers to the relocation industry will need to deploy helpful tools and very good market information to deliver effective destination services.
