Apartment Demand Falters in These Nine Small Markets

Despite solid demand defining the U.S. apartment market recently, there were a handful of smaller markets that suffered net move-outs in the past year. Among the nation’s largest 150 apartment markets, only nine saw apartment demand backtrack in the past year. Of those nine, all were smaller markets with existing unit counts averaging at about 42,700 units. Only two markets on this list – Madison and Rochester – had existing stock totals bigger than 60,000 units. Of these nine markets to report net move-outs in the year-ending 3rd quarter, four were in the Midwest, where the slow-and-steady nature of region led to notably tight occupancy rates of late. Youngstown logged the deepest loss nationwide with demand falling by nearly 560 units in the past year, according to data from RealPage Market Analytics. The other three Midwest markets with demand setbacks in the past 12 months were Madison, Toledo and Flint, and those performances were a bit less drastic at about 60 to 200 units.