Thanks to a report last week from CBRE, we already know that construction activity in multifamily real estate last year was more robust than almost any other year since the 1980s.
According to the CBRE report, there were 267,900 units completed in 2018, slightly lower than the previous high of the last 30+ years, which just so happened to be set in 2017.
So, the last two years saw the highest number of completions in since the 80s, but where are all those apartments being built?
The CBRE report has the answers there, too.
According to the CBRE report, the vast majority of the apartments built last year were built in the top 20 markets. Specifically, 80% of all apartments completed last year were in the top 20 markets.
Beyond that, construction was focused in the top eight markets, which represented 49% of all the apartments built last year.
The top three markets for multifamily construction all saw more than 20,000 units completed in 2018.
Coming in at No. 1 on the list of the markets where the most apartments were built last year was the New York metro area, where there were 32,300 new units constructed in 2018. And there’s a pretty significant gap between first and second place.
Second on the list was Dallas-Fort Worth, where there were 20,500 units completed. Third on the list and just barely behind DFW was the Los Angeles area, where there were 20,000 units completed.
After Los Angeles, there’s another significant drop before you get to the fourth metro area on the list, Seattle where there were 14,400 units completed in 2018.
Fifth on the list was Washington, D.C., where there were 13,600 apartments built last year, followed by Denver with 11,700 units completed, Boston with 9,700 units built, and Miami, where 9,500 units were completed.
Those eight markets make up nearly half of all the units completed in 2018.
Here’s the full list of the top 20 markets the most apartments were built last year:
- New York Metro – 32,300 units completed
- Dallas/Ft. Worth – 20,500 units completed
- Los Angeles/Southern California – 20,000 units completed
- Seattle – 14,400 units completed
- Washington, D.C. – 13,600 units completed
- Denver – 11,700 units completed
- Boston – 9,700 units completed
- Miami/South Florida – 9,500 units completed
- San Francisco Bay Area – 9,300 units completed
- Chicago – 8,900 units completed
- Orlando – 7,700 units completed
- Austin – 7,400 units completed
- Charlotte – 7,000 units completed
- Atlanta – 6,900 units completed
- San Antonio – 6,800 units completed
- Phoenix – 6,400 units completed
- Minneapolis – 6,300 units completed
- Tampa – 6,100 units completed
- Nashville – 5,900 units completed
- Portland – 4,900 units completed
According to CBRE’s report, based on recent data on multifamily construction starts and under construction totals, multifamily construction is expected to remain elevated near 2018’s figures through the first half of 2020, at least.
