The U.S. apartment market absorbed 488,773 units in the year-ending 3rd quarter 2024, buoyed by an incredible 192,649 units of demand in the July to September time period. Fueling strong national demand, several of the nation’s 50 largest apartment markets recorded their biggest demand volumes on record in 3rd quarter, including many fast-growing Sun Belt markets.
Markets that claimed all-time high apartment demand in the year-ending 3rd quarter 2024 were Phoenix, Charlotte, Raleigh/Durham, Nashville, Jacksonville, Las Vegas and Salt Lake City, according to data from RealPage Market Analytics.
These seven markets have several tailwinds aiding their record demand performances. For one thing, they’re all experiencing favorable demographics to support housing demand. Populations in these seven markets have all grown at rates at least double (and in some cases, triple) the national norm since 2017, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Raleigh, Nashville and Jacksonville have all grown total populations over 10% in the five-year period ending in 2022, which is the latest Census data available. Nationwide, population growth during that time was 3.1%.
Job growth tends to run higher and unemployment tends to run lower than national averages in these markets, further supporting housing demand.
These markets have also experienced a recent apartment supply boom. All these markets grew total apartment inventory at a rate above the national norm of 2.8% in the year-ending 3rd quarter 2024 – except Las Vegas, which grew total inventory a bit behind the average at 2.4%.
Among top 50 markets, those that grew apartment inventory most in the last year were Austin (8.9%), Raleigh (7.8%), Nashville and Jacksonville (both 7%), Salt Lake City (6.5%) and Phoenix (5.6%).
Additionally, five major markets recorded all-time high apartment demand in the July to September time period specifically. In Charlotte, Raleigh/Durham and Jacksonville, strong 3rd quarter demand buoyed annual absorption to record highs.
Both Austin and Denver posted annual demand roughly 200 units short of their respective record highs in the year-ending 3rd quarter 2024.
Looking ahead, all these markets are expected to receive heavy supply in the coming year, which bodes well for continued apartment demand.
