Multifamily investment continues to be attractive, even through the pandemic. However, with mass job loss across the country and severe economic dislocation, multifamily market fundamentals have shifted, and along with them, the best and worst apartment markets have changed as well. A new report from Moody's Analytics REIS ranks the top five markets for multifamily investment and the bottom five markets. 

The top five markets on the list include Lexington, Knoxville, Phoenix, Nashville and Minneapolis. All five of these metro areas, ranked in order of best performing markets, are continuing to see rent growth through the pandemic. Lexington has 5.9% rent growth in the last year, while Knoxville and Phoenix have seen 4.9% and 4.6% rent growth respectively. Nashville rents have increased 4%, and Minneapolis rents are up 3.7%. 

These markets stand in stark opposition to national rent trends. Nationally, both asking and effective rents fell .4% in the second quarter of the year. In some markets, rents declined substantially. San Francisco effective rents fell 3.3% in the second quarter, the largest quarterly decline since the September 11 attacks, according to the report. Unsurprisingly, San Francisco is also at the top of the list for the worst performing rental markets in the country with an overall rent decline of 2.7%.