"It's Raining Men," so the 1980s song by the Weather Girls went. More than 40 years later, what's raining is multifamily units.

In a research brief, CBRE forecasts that 716,000 multifamily housing units will hit the market over the next 24 months. The sector's overall vacancy rate will swell above the current 4.6% equilibrium vacancy rate to 5.2% by this year's end. Overall, there are 750,000 under construction, which is the most since the 1980s.

"This may come as a surprise to some, since the U.S. currently has an overall housing shortage—nearly all of which is in single-family homes and not multifamily units," the brief notes. "CBRE expects that demand for rental housing will gain momentum this year as vacancy peaks only slightly above its long-run average of 5.0%."

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