Six Neighborhoods Building the Most Apartments in the U.S.

Apartment construction is at a decades-long high, as well reported by a number of metrics. Dallas, New York City and Phoenix all have over 50,000 units under construction as of 3rd quarter 2023 and another dozen markets have more than 20,000 units under construction.

Zooming in to the neighborhood level, a handful of submarkets across the U.S. have more than 10,000 units under construction as of 3rd quarter 2023. The construction boom happening in these six submarkets outpaces that of most major markets.

Two New York submarkets claim some of the fullest construction pipelines in the nation, including nearly 20,000 units underway in Brooklyn. Still, nearly 20,000 units coming online in a submarket with about 482,000 existing units translates to a relatively manageable inventory jump of just about 4%. Similarly, in Queens, the 10,700 units underway will grow total inventory in that submarket just under 4% as Queens has about 280,000 existing units. Neighboring Jersey City had about 12,000 units underway as of 3rd quarter, which will grow total inventory about 15% in that submarket of about 77,000 units.

Phoenix, meanwhile, has made plenty of headlines about its unprecedented construction wave. RealPage forecasted that Phoenix will be the No. 2 market for apartment supply in 2024, trailing only Dallas. A good chunk of that 2024 supply will come online in Phoenix’s Avondale/Goodyear/West Glendale submarket. The more than 13,500 units under construction will grow total inventory nearly 58% in Avondale/Goodyear/West Glendale – a submarket with about 23,500 units today.

That nearly 60% inventory jump in Phoenix’s Avondale/Goodyear/West Glendale area marks the most prolific ratio of growth among these six submarkets. Though the units underway in two others – Allen/McKinney in Dallas and Central Nashville – will grow existing inventory by about one-third. Nearly 11,000 units were underway in Allen/McKinney at the end of 3rd quarter – in a submarket with about 32,000 existing units. And more than 10,000 units are underway in Central Nashville.

Another four submarkets across the U.S. have more than 8,000 units underway. City Center Philadelphia, Downtown Miami/South Beach, Frisco in Dallas and Southwest Charlotte all had between 8,150 and 8,500 units underway at the end of 3rd quarter 2023. Alternatively, only about 13% of the 750+ submarkets across the nation’s 50 largest apartment markets had no apartment construction underway as of 3rd quarter, equating to about 100 submarkets.