Market-rate apartment occupancy is expected to hold steady as demand remains strong RICHARDSON, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–RealPage®, a leading global provider of AI-driven software platforms to the real estate industry, announced today its 2025 second quarter analysis of the multifamily housing sector and key indicators for the third quarter and beyond. RealPage saw the pace of new apartment supply further decelerate following an ongoing, rapid decline in construction activity. “Demand for apartments has shown remarkable resilience even as the once-in-a-generation supply wave crests and retreats,” said Carl Whitaker, chief economist at RealPage. “We’re observing healthy absorption rates across the nation. While new supply is decelerating, the total volume of new inventory delivering remains enough to satiate demand.” Q2 Industry Takeaways
Occupancy is currently steady at 95.7%, a modest year-over-year increase. While average effective rents have grown at a muted rate of 0.8% year-over-year in the second quarter, markets with lower supply volumes, such as the Midwest, are seeing slightly stronger rent growth. Concessions remain elevated across most markets, with 20% of the units currently offering a concession with one-month free promotions. Rent growth remains strongest in regions with historically low supply volumes, emphasizing the growing disparity between limited vacancy coastal markets and supply-laden Sun Belt areas. Rents have declined in 13 states over the past year, led by Arizona and Colorado with drops of over 4%. Both states rank among the top 5 for apartment inventory growth, behind only South Dakota, Idaho and North Carolina. The declines in these 13 states aren’t due to weak demand. Instead, strong supply appears to be meeting housing needs and may even be fueling economic growth by improving affordability; with job growth in these states averaging 0.7% YoY increase.
“Rents are falling in states where new…