RentCafe: 2024 on Track to Set Apartment Construction Record

(Image courtesy of RentCafe; Breakout image courtesy of Maria Orlova/pexels.com)

RentCafe, Santa Barbara, Calif., released a 2024 Apartment Construction Report, finding new apartment construction is poised to reach 518,108 by year-end.

That would be a 9% increase from 2023 and up 30% from 2022. It would also be the first time ever that apartment construction passed the 500,000-unit threshold.

About 2 million apartments are set to come online by 2028, RentCafe projected.

Supply is continuing to push demand, the report noted.

“The supply wave has brought 50-year high deliveries to certain metros … but the increased competition is slowing rent growth, especially in booming Sun Belt markets,” said Doug Ressler, Senior Analyst and Manager of Business Intelligence at Yardi Matrix.

Yardi Matrix is RentCafe’s parent company.

RentCafe noted one wrinkle in the outlook is higher borrowing costs affecting the multifamily sector, prompting many developers to adjust their strategies. That will also affect the pace of completions–RentCafe anticipates a deceleration after this year, then another surge around 2028.

Regionally, New York is positioned to lead the nation in apartment construction, with 32,935 new rental units expected before the end of the year. A very narrow No. 2 is Dallas, Texas, with 32,932 anticipated.

Rounding out the top five are Austin, Texas (21,506 anticipated); Phoenix (20,141) and Atlanta (18,520).