Apartment Demand in Southeast Markets Swells Ahead of Fading Supply Volumes

Apartment demand in the Southeast region of the U.S. surged to a record high in 1st quarter. At the same time, construction volumes are declining in the region.

Markets across the Southeast region of the county, including Atlanta, Nashville and Memphis, have seen apartment demand gain traction rapidly in the past few years. In the year-ending 1st quarter 2025, absorption hit an apex of 56,000 units, according to data from RealPage Market Analytics. This was a new all-time high for the region.

To put those numbers into perspective, Southeast apartment demand in 2025 alone matched the combined total absorption tally from 2021 through 2023. Demand across the region started surging in 2021, like it did in most of the U.S., after the pandemic decline in 2020. In early 2022, annual demand crossed the threshold of 40,000 units, marking a high point for the Southeast.

Then, in 2022, apartment demand in the Southeast started to cool, and net move-outs became the norm by late that year. Demand quickly turned around, hitting positive territory again by the end of 2023, but annual absorption landed at just 24,000 units, a little more than half the region’s previous peak.

But in 2024, the Southeast really shined, with apartment demand crossing the 40,000-unit mark again by 3rd quarter. That surge continued into the early months of 2025.

Supply in the Southeast wasn’t far behind rising demand tallies. Roughly 50,000 new multifamily units were delivered in calendar 2024, which was a 22% increase over 2023’s already record-breaking completion pace.

However, annual deliveries started to dip a bit in early 2025 and are scheduled to decline further during the rest of the year and into 2026. Looking further out, multifamily permits – a leading indicator of future supply – have been declining since the peaks of 2023.

In calendar 2024, across the seven major markets in RealPage’s coverage of the Southeast region, just over 24,000 multifamily permits were issued. That’s a 20% drop from 2024 levels and 25% below 2023 permits. That trend carried into 1st quarter, when multifamily permits dipped to their lowest level in almost four years. (The seven largest markets in the Southeast include Atlanta, Nashville, Memphis, New Orleans, Louisville, Birmingham and Huntsville.)

Thus, while 2024’s apartment boom was historic, the declining trend in the permit data from the past few years indicates that the construction pipeline across the Southeast is set to constrict in the near term, a shift that will influence the rental markets in this region in the coming years.

For more information on the state of Southeast region apartment markets, including forecasts, watch the webcast Market Intelligence: Q2 Southeast Region Update.