By Mary Salmonsen for Multifamily Executive
The average U.S. multifamily rent fell $3 to $1,473 in November, according to the latest National Multifamily Report by Yardi Matrix. Year-over-Year rent growth fell by 20 basis points, down to 3.1 percent for the month.
National rent growth has held at three percent or above since spring 2018, demonstrating the strength and consistency of multifamily demand, according to Yardi. More than 320,000 new multifamily units have been absorbed so far in 2019, marking the sixth straight year with at least 250,000 new multifamily units absorbed. Seattle, Denver, and Dallas have had the highest multifamily absorption, followed by Houston, Austin, Texas and Washington, D.C.
Out of the top 30 metro markets, those in the Southwest and West have seen the strongest YOY rent growth. Phoenix had the highest rent growth at 7.5 percent, followed by Las Vegas at 6 percent and Sacramento at 5.3 percent.
Rents rose by 0.1 percent at the national level on a trailing three-month (T-3) basis, which compares the last three months with the previous three months. Rent growth was flat or negative in 18 of the markets by this measure and flat nationally overall. Orange County, Calif., and Phoenix both led the market in T-3 rent growth at 0.4 percent, while San Jose (-0.8 percent) as well as Seattle and San Francisco (-0.4 percent) fell fastest. Overall, warm markets saw the highest growth, while tech-centric and gateway markets saw declines.
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