Huntsville Apartment Supply Rivals Much Bigger Markets

A small Alabama market is growing fast, ranking among the nation’s largest apartment markets for total new supply additions in the past year. Apartment deliveries in Huntsville totaled 7,097 units in calendar 2024, which was well ahead of historical norms for this market and swelled the existing unit base by 17.4% – easily the biggest increase nationwide. But what’s even more telling is that this market ranked 24th among the nation’s largest 150 apartment markets for completions in the past year. That’s a ranking usually reserved for one of the nation’s top 50 markets. And the two markets next to Huntsville on that list – Boston at #23 and Los Angeles at #25 – are obviously much bigger. For perspective, Huntsville had about 47,800 market-rate apartment units at the end of 2024. Boston is about nine times bigger than that, while Los Angeles is roughly 24 times the size of Huntsville. Driving the demand for new housing in Huntsville is a unique economy based in the Government and Professional/Business Services sectors, as the market is home to the U.S. Army’s Redstone Arsenal and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. Taking a longer time horizon, Huntsville’s apartment supply has been climbing at one of the fastest rates nationwide since about 2022.