Developers’ thirst for new apartment construction in 2021 is bearing fruit in the tens of thousands of units hitting the market at the same time that rents have flattened.
The vacancy rate among the metro area’s more than 550,000 apartment units hit 10.5% during the third quarter, a slight increase from 10.3% in the second quarter, which was the first time vacancies rose above 10% since 2011, according to data compiled by the brokerage firm Lee & Associates.
The vacancy rate spike could increase further soon. Roughly 36,000 units are under construction in Atlanta, which would expand the region’s inventory by 6.5%, Lee & Associates senior research analyst Kate Hunt wrote in the report.
The market is already shifting in favor of renters who have battled escalating rents over the past decade.
Between 2010 and 2019, average apartment rents in Atlanta rose 65%, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported. The pandemic put rent hikes into overdrive, with the median rent in the metro area jumping 16.8% between 2019 and 2021 to more than $1,400 per month, according to Apartment List data.
But the onslaught of new apartment supply is putting a dent into those growth figures. Area median rents fell 6.2% the past year and 1.5% over the past month alone to $1,471 a month, according to Apartment List.
“I wish there was a way to perfectly calibrate supply and demand, but the truth is supply is always spiky in the Sun Belt,” Portman Residential Senior Vice President Marc Brambrut said. “We’re going to see more concessions. Whatever submarket you pick, if you have four or five projects delivering at the same time, it becomes…
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