U.S. Logs Seven Quarters of Record Apartment Supply Volumes

The U.S. apartment market has now logged seven consecutive quarters of record supply, with the last three quarters of 2024 seeing especially significant deliveries.

Quarterly completion volumes broke past the 100,000-unit mark in 2nd quarter 2023 for the first time since RealPage Market Analytics began tracking the market in the early 1990s. Since then, delivery totals have increased nearly every quarter.

In 2024’s 3rd quarter, the U.S. logged completion of over 160,400 units, the biggest quarterly volume on record. Another 155,400 units wrapped up in the final three months of the year. The completion volumes from these last two quarters of 2024 nearly doubled the 10-year quarterly supply average of about 89,700 units. And this decade has been a significant one for apartment construction activity. In the decade before this one (2004-2014), quarterly completions averaged just 36,200 units.

New apartment supply volumes have been especially significant in the South region of the U.S. Over 89,100 units completed in the South during the final three months of 2024. The West has also seen an upturn in supply, with over 36,100 units delivered in 4th quarter. In both regions, 4th quarter supply was just a shade below record-high showings from 2024’s 3rd quarter.

More mild deliveries were seen in the Midwest (15,500 units) and Northeast (14,600 units) in 4th quarter 2024. Still, that was a record showing for the Northeast region. The Midwest pace, however, was a bit behind the region’s highest quarterly tally from 4th quarter 2023.

Across the U.S., every quarter in 2024 saw record volumes compared to recent years. As a result, U.S. supply hit a 50-year high in the calendar year.

Markets seeing the most new deliveries in 4th quarter were Dallas, Austin and Phoenix. These markets each saw completions total north of 8,000 units in the final three months of the year, leading to nation-leading annual delivery volumes topping 26,000 units in calendar 2024.