Some apartment markets – led by Sun Belt metros – enjoyed solid demand volumes in 2020, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Dallas/Fort Worth, Atlanta and Houston ranked as the nation’s apartment demand leaders, absorbing between 12,000 and 20,000 units in 2020. While these volumes in Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston are consistent with five-year averages, the latest absorption volumes in Atlanta are well ahead of that market’s norm. Garnering apartment demand of 7,000 to 9,000 units in 2020 were markets including Phoenix, Denver, Charlotte and Philadelphia. Of these top demand markets, December occupancy was best in Philadelphia and Phoenix, where completions have been elevated in the past decade, but not quite at the levels of the other markets on this list.
