West and Midwest Markets Achieve Occupancy Growth in 2023

While U.S. apartment occupancy inched down a bit during the first six months of 2023, a handful of large markets – located in the West and Midwest – achieved better results. Among the nation’s largest apartment markets, only a few have logged increases of 10 basis points (bps) to 40 bps so far in calendar 2023. That contrasted with the U.S. overall, which suffered an average occupancy decline of 20 bps in the first six months of calendar 2023, according to data from RealPage Market Analytics. San Jose is the leader for occupancy growth year-to-date, with an increase of 40 bps. After falling to 95.4% at the end of last year, occupancy in Silicon Valley has recovered to 95.8% as of June. Other West Coast markets to see rebounding rates this year are San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle. Midwest markets Chicago, Milwaukee and Minneapolis also made the list, with upturns of 10 bps to 30 bps thus far in 2023.