Apartment Inventory Growth to Top 8% in Charleston

The Charleston-North Charleston, SC apartment market is approaching a peak in its record apartment supply wave. More than 6,000 new units are scheduled to deliver in the year-ending 1st quarter 2025, which will mark an all-time high in the RealPage dataset that began 24 years ago in Charleston. That surge of deliveries will push inventory up a record 8.3%, according to RealPage Market Analytics. That inventory increase is roughly 75% above the five-year average annual inventory expansion rate (4.7%). Once annual completion levels crest, deliveries are projected to fall below the five-year average in late 2025 before hovering around 2% inventory growth through 2027. For historical perspective, the existing unit base in Charleston saw its existing unit base accelerate from 47,637 units to 75,572 units from 3rd quarter 2014 to 3rd quarter 2024 – climbing 57% in a decade. Just over the last five years, inventory climbed more than 26%. Strong job growth and demographics across this Sun Belt metro supports housing demand. The Charleston metro ranked in the top 10 markets for job growth in the year-ending September 2024 with a 4.2% increase over the 12-month period. Meanwhile, population grew 8.0% from 2017 to 2022, based on U.S. Census data.