A construction blitz in fancier urban locations caused a hike in US apartment vacancies for the second straight quarter, Reis data reveals—the first time that’s happened since 2009.
Reis senior economist Ryan Severino tells Bloomberg the surge of shiny new Class-A properties near city centers—almost one million new units since 2007—has outstripped demand.
Class-B and -C apartments are filling up fine, though, in part from a shortage of new digs. Reis' datashows no new Class-B and -C apartments since 2012, after 44k new units from 2007 to 2011.
Ryan says Class-B and -C vacancy falls every quarter, but "Class-A vacancy bottomed out in the first quarter of 2013 and it’s been slowly rising since then.”
Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies' biennial report shows Americans occupied about 42.6 million rental units as of Q3 last year—up about nine million households since 2005 for the largest gain in any 10-year period. [Bloomberg]
