Omaha Apartment Completions Reach Highest Level in Decades

The Omaha-Council Bluffs apartment market is continuing to expand at an accelerated pace, at least by local standards. This Midwest market grew 2.4% with the addition of 2,469 units in the year-ending 2nd quarter 2023, according to data from RealPage Market Analytics. That took Omaha’s existing inventory to nearly 88,000 apartment units. While that doesn’t place Omaha among the nation’s top 50 apartment markets based on existing units, it sure comes close, ranking #55. Completions in Omaha over the past year were at the highest level since at least 2006. For comparison, during the 2010s-decade, Omaha averaged deliveries of less than 1,200 units annually. Elevated deliveries in Omaha haven’t had much of an impact on occupancy and rent growth. In 2023’s 2nd quarter, occupancy in the market registered at 96.7%, down just 90 basis points from the peak of 97.6% achieved a year earlier and well above the market average of 95.3% during the five years leading up to the pandemic (2015-2019). With tight occupancy, apartment operators in Omaha have been able to push rents well above the market norm. In the year-ending 2nd quarter 2023, effective asking rents were up 6.8%. While that was down from the high of 8.3% achieved a year ago, it was well above the average of 2.4% from 2015 to 2019 and ranked 11th among the nation’s core 150 markets.