Fayetteville Asking Rent Growth Among Nation’s Top Performers

A small market in North Carolina is logging strong apartment market fundamentals, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. It wasn’t long ago that Fayetteville, NC was performing well below the national norm in both effective asking rent change and occupancy. Over the last few quarters, however, this laggard has gained some steam, as is now a top performer among the nation’s 150 largest apartment markets. While the industry at large falters from the coronavirus pandemic, Fayetteville operators are raising effective asking rents at one of the fastest clips in the nation, with growth of 3.9% in the year-ending 2nd quarter. In comparison, asking rents are down 0.2% nationwide. Only five other markets saw bigger asking rent growth than Fayetteville in 2nd quarter, including Huntsville, Bakersfield, Boise City, Fresno and Columbus, GA. Occupancy in Fayetteville, NC has also strengthened considerably in the last few years, landing at 96.7% in 2nd quarter. Nationally, occupancy averaged quite a bit lower at 95.3%.