RentCafe: Affordable Housing Construction Strong

(Seattle, courtesy of  Zetong Li/pexels.com)

RentCafe, Santa Barbara, Calif., found the U.S. built nearly 310,000 affordable apartments in the past five years.

They account for 12.6% of all new apartments.

Affordable housing construction rose 73% in the past five years compared to the preceding five-year period, outpacing the 36% growth in overall apartment construction.

Affordable housing is beginning to make up a larger portion of all construction, RentCafe found. In 2024, nearly 14% of all new apartments were income-restricted, compared with 9% a decade ago.

The top market for new affordable housing construction was Seattle, with 14,290 affordable units built in the past five years, up nearly 40%. Affordable housing made up 24.22% of new apartments there.

Next is New York City, with 14,240 new affordable apartments, up a staggering 185.26% over the past five years. Affordable units are 31.7% of new apartments.

Austin is No. 3, with 13,343 new affordable units, up 142.29% over the past five years. Affordable apartments are 14.16% of new stock.

The Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn., area is No. 4, with 10,722 new affordable units, and Atlanta is No. 5, with 10,486 new affordable units.

Making up the rest of the top 10 are Denver (10,253 new affordable units), Los Angeles (9,406 new affordable units), the Bay Area, Calif., (9,169 new affordable units), San Antonio (9,015 new affordable units), and Miami (8,690 new affordable units).