Employment losses remain steep in most major markets, and economic recovery has slowed, paused, or in some cases, reversed, in some of the nation’s top metropolitan areas. Increasing COVID-19 infection rates and the resulting re-imposition of restrictions on businesses and residents has slowed economic recovery across the U.S.
The National Multifamily Housing Council reports that 86.8% of households living in the country’s stock of professionally-managed market-rate apartment properties have paid rent for October as of the 13th. The latest results fall 2.4 percentage points under the 89.2% payment level recorded through October 13, 2019.
When the federal unemployment benefits in the CARES Act expired at the end of July, there was legitimate concern that residents in designated affordable housing would be most impacted. But after two full monthly rent cycles, collections have surprisingly held steady.
The National Multifamily Housing Council reports that 79.4% of households living in the country’s stock of professionally-managed market-rate apartment properties have paid rent for October as of the 6th.
U.S. apartment leasing bounced back in 3rd quarter, led by a resurgence in the nation’s Sun Belt.The occupied apartment count across the 150 largest U.S. markets climbed by 146,517 units, on net, in the July through September time frame.
The National Multifamily Housing Council reports that 92.2% of households living in the country’s stock of professionally-managed market-rate apartment properties have paid rent for September as of the 27th.
Downtown areas across the country are suffering the outsized impacts of both elevated apartment construction activity and economic damage from the COVID-19 outbreak. As a result, apartment operators in the nation’s urban core submarkets have resorted to some of the most severe rent cuts in the nation.
The National Multifamily Housing Council reports that 86.2% of households living in the country’s stock of professionally-managed market-rate apartment properties have paid rent for September as of the 13th. The latest results run 2.5 percentage points under the 88.7% payment level recorded through September 13, 2019. The findings come from the National Multifamily Housing Council’s Rent Payment Tracker research.
New York’s luxury apartments were in great shape at the beginning of 2020, but occupancy has come down notably during the COVID-19 pandemic. Between March and August, New York’s top-tier product recorded a 210-basis point decline in occupancy, one of the nation’s worst performances for that product niche.
New York faces an uphill battle to regain its footing in apartment fundamentals, and the Manhattan submarkets are disproportionately impacting the market’s poor results. New York has racked up several unwelcome titles since the start of the pandemic. The market has lost more jobs than any other market, shedding over 1 million positions in the year-ending July. Throughout the summer, rent collections have been among worst nationally.
Effective asking rents continued to fall in August, as U.S. apartment operators made sacrifices to maintain occupancy during the COVID-19 pandemic and recession. Rents across the U.S. were slashed by 1.4% year-over-year as of August. These were the deepest cuts the market has seen in over a decade. The last time rent cuts were this steep was back in March 2010, when the nation was climbing out of the previous recession.
While most of the nation’s 50 largest apartment markets surrendered some occupancy during the worst months of the pandemic, there were some holdouts. Between March and July, occupancy improved across 17 markets, with the top two performances recorded in the South region.
New lease signings continued to increase across most major apartment markets in July. Some of the gains in leasing activity were due to pent-up demand, as stay-at-home orders due to COVID-19 were lifted. But normal seasonal renting patterns were also at play. From late March through early May, new lease signings across the nation plummeted as COVID-19 forced most leasing offices to shutter amid shelter-in-place orders.
Apartment occupancy in San Francisco dove to a two-decade low in July, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting recession. After hitting a recent high of 96.6% in August 2019, apartment occupancy in San Francisco started coming down. When the recession hit, apartment occupancy in this pricey and chronically overbuilt area saw a severe decline, landing at 92.2% in July.
While job losses continued to ease across most markets in July, the pace of recovery is slowing, as increasing COVID-19 infection rates caused several state and local governments to reinstate or tighten existing restrictions recently. The steep job losses incurred in March, and especially in April, will take many more months to fully recover. While most markets spent June and July recouping some of those losses, the annual declines remain widespread, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
The National Multifamily Housing Council reports that 90% of households living in the country’s stock of professionally-managed market-rate apartment properties have paid rent for August as of the 20th. The latest results run 2.1 percentage points under the 92.1% payment level recorded through August 20, 2019.
While apartment market performances continued to soften nationwide in July, no major market is experiencing more severe performance slumps than those in the Bay Area. Among the nation’s 50 largest apartment markets, all three of the major Bay Area metros logged some of the steepest declines in effective asking rents. In the year-ending July 2020, San Francisco operators slashed effective asking rents 10.1%. San Jose saw a decline of 9.5% and Oakland operators cut rents 4.7%.
The National Multifamily Housing Council reports that 86.9% of households living in the country’s stock of professionally-managed market-rate apartment properties have paid rent for August as of the 13th. The latest results run 2 percentage points under the 88.9% payment level recorded through August 13, 2019.
Student housing pre-leasing has mostly maintained momentum, but operators have pulled back a bit on rent growth, predominantly at properties closest to campus. Since mid-March, when college campuses started closing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, pre-leasing for student housing has continued to gain momentum, though at a slower pace than in past years.
Apartment leasing continued at a brisk pace in July, keeping occupancy rates steady and holding rents flat. While conditions vary greatly by market, most apartments are in solid shape entering the crucial month of August, with an outlook muddied by stalled negotiations on Capitol Hill. Guest cards – the key measure of prospects indicating interest in an apartment unit – were up 14.9% in July 2020 compared to the same time last year.
