The multifamily juggernaut? It's showing no signs of a slowdown

Written by Dan Rafter

No signs of a slowdown. That’s the takeaway from Yardi Matrix’s recently released April multifamily report, which shows that monthly apartment rents across the country are continuing their steady rise. As the report says, “There seems to be no reason to think the multifamily juggernaut is going to hit the pause button.”

According to the report, the average U.S. multifamily rent increased by $5 in April to $1,436. Rents increased a solid 3 percent this April when compared to the same month last year.

Apartment living remains popular, too. Yardi Matrix reported that the new supply of apartments across the country continues to grow at about 300,000 units a year. Even with this growth, the occupancy rate for apartment properties has only dipped 10 basis points year-to-date. Overall, the national occupancy rate for stable apartment properties is 94.8 percent.

In the Midwest, Minneapolis/St. Paul saw apartment rents increase by 3.3 percent on a year-over-year basis. This made the Twin Cities the only Midwest metropolitan area to see apartment rents jump by more than the national average during the last 12 months.

Other major Midwest cities saw less impressive rent year-over-year rent growths. In Kansas City, for example, apartment rents grew by 1.4 percent this April when compared to the same month a year earlier. In Chicago, apartment rents grew 2 percent during the same period, while in Indianapolis they rose 2.8 percent. St. Louis apartment rents rose by an average of 1.9 percent.