This Unassuming Midwestern City is Among the Top 10 Apartment Markets

In terms of effective asking rent increases, the Midwest is doing fairly well at 2.8% for the year ending February when stacked up against the US average of 0.2%. But dig deeper into the region and you’ll find markets that outperform the regional average. That is what RealPage has done, identifying Fargo, ND, which at 5.4% tied with Champaign-Urbana in the No. 8 spot nationally, as a market to watch.

It’s a small market: Fargo has a population of around 259,000 and less than 38,000 existing apartment units. During the pandemic, Fargo didn’t experience the massive rent change increases that many off-the-beaten track cities, such as Boise, did, never venturing into double-digit annual rent growth. RealPage notes that the market’s recent rent increase was well ahead of its pre-pandemic average of just 1.1% between 2015 and 2019.

Because of its relatively small size, supply has been limited, which has helped drive rent growth. For that reason, occupancy has been tight, averaging 96% over the past five years and registering at 95.5% as of February 2024, RealPage says.

It also is affordable for renters: Effective asking rents in the market averaged $1,027 in February 2024, below the Midwest region average of $1,408 and well below the US norm of $1,806, RealPage says.

Multifamily Spring:

Multifamily Spring is coming to New York City this April 18. This year’s program will bring together the industry’s most influential and knowledgeable real estate executives from the multifamily sector for 5 hours of face-to-face networking and over 5.5 hours of can’t miss sessions. Learn more or register here.