South Region Logs Nearly 370,000 More Occupied Apartment Units in 2024

The South region of the U.S. absorbed an incredible volume of apartment units in calendar 2024, translating to an additional 369,533 units occupied regionwide. Occupied units marks a slight deviation from absorption as it accounts for both vacancy and any units removed from stock. In January 2024, the South region – anchored by markets including Houston, Dallas and Atlanta – had approximately 8.1 million apartment units. Of those, 93.1% were occupied. By December, massive volumes of new supply delivering across the region buoyed existing inventory to 8.4 million units, according to data from RealPage Market Analytics. Roughly 5,000 apartment units were removed from stock across the South in 2024. Additionally, South region occupancy ticked up to stand at 94% by December. That translated to the largest increase in occupied units among U.S. regions, far outpacing the West region’s 159,000 additionally occupied units. Meanwhile, the Midwest logged an additional 76,000 occupied units and the Northeast (which is also the smallest region nationally) added 58,000 occupied units in 2024.