Vacancy Rates Remained Lower than Expected in 2016

New York, NY, December 20, 2016—In spite of experts’ warnings that the many new apartments coming online in 2016 would drive vacancy rates up, rates have remained low for most of the year, reports NREI. 

“The market has proved to be incredibly resilient,” says John Sebree, first vice president and national director of the national multi housing group at brokerage firm Marcus & Millichap “The apartment business is far more positive and far stronger than we expected to be at the beginning of 2016.”

The strength can be attributed both to strong demand and construction delays, which pushed openings back to 2017. “Vacancy rates are still anticipated to rise in 2017, when even more new apartments will open than in 2016,” the publication reports. “However, experts now expect the U.S. vacancy rate to stay at or below 5.0 percent.”

“With job growth numbers remaining steady, there is not a perception that we are going off a cliff,” says Sebree.