According to recent data from RealPage.com, strong leasing activity this summer has pushed occupancy levels to their highest level in nearly 20 years. U.S. apartment occupancy hit 96% in May, up 60 basis points (bps) from April. In addition, they confirm what we've already been seeing with annual rent growth holding solid at 3.1% - marking the 10th consecutive month of annual rent growth at 3% or higher. In addition, the average rent was $1,394 among the 150 largest apartment markets.
"Healthy demand should be reassuring to developers as the number of units under construction nationwide keeps climbing. More than 426,000 units are under construction in the U.S. as of May, which represents 2.4% of the nation’s existing apartment stock. About 363,192 of those units are expected to complete in the next 12 months."
