How is the nation’s busiest submarket expected to handle the big volume of units currently under construction? Builders are developing more apartments in Brooklyn than in any other submarket in the nation, with nearly 11,200 units underway at the end of 2021. This block of product represents a 2.4% increase in the submarket’s existing unit count. In the past 10 years, Brooklyn has averaged delivery volumes at around 2,800 or so units annually. By comparison, nearly 7,800 units are scheduled to complete in calendar 2022, which is more than double that decade norm. Even with elevated completions, this submarket is expected to absorb the new stock well, as apartments here are in high demand. As of February, occupancy in Brooklyn was very tight at 98.9%. Effective asking rents were up 14.9% year-over-year as of February, which is the best performance this submarket has seen since 2012. While fundamentals did stumble during 2020 and early 2021 in the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic, Brooklyn has recovered well in recent months and there’s nothing to suggest the submarket can’t handle what’s coming online in the near term.
