Grading Apartment Recoveries in Nine Gateway Markets

After an initial slowdown at the height of the lockdowns in 2nd quarter 2020, the U.S. apartment market rebounded quickly and then took off – recording record rent growth and big demand. But not every market enjoyed the same trajectory. The nation’s more urban, denser coastal markets took the biggest blows and have taken longer to regain momentum. Coastal gateway markets were also the “golden children” of the last two cycles – with investors buying heavily on the pandemic-based thesis these cities offered lesser volatility and endless liquidity. Now, they lag the rest of the country.

Where are the big coastal metros on the road to recovery? We rank the apartment sector in nine key gateway markets based on how hard they were hit and the length of their expected recovery.