Midland/Odessa Apartment Occupancy Jumps in February

Occupancy in the Midland/Odessa apartment market climbed notably in February. The West Texas market logged an occupancy jump of 110 basis points (bps) between January and February, marking the only increase above 100 bps among the nation’s largest 150 apartment markets. This was also the biggest monthly occupancy increase Midland/Odessa has seen in nearly four years. The strong recent performance, however, was not enough to make up for the deep declines this market has seen since mid-2019. Occupancy here was at 86.7% in February, down 420 bps since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic decline and a notable 940 bps below the market’s last peak seen in May 2019. While Midland/Odessa’s local job base is recovering at a slower pace than most markets across the county, crude oil prices have recovered from the COVID-19 decline and are rising again, which could lead to more growth in this energy-dependent economy in the near term.