Last year’s apartment boom was historic, but a declining trend in permitting over the past few years indicates that the construction pipeline across the Southeast is set to narrow in the near term. This will likely influence the rental markets in the region in the coming years, according to a RealPage analysis.
Apartment demand in the region reached a record high during the first quarter, with absorption reaching 56,000 units. Demand growth has been building in the region since 2021, similar to trends nationwide. By early 2022, annual demand in the Southeast crossed the threshold of 40,000 units, a high point for the region at the time, said RealPage.
Apartment demand cooled somewhat in 2022 as net move-outs became the norm by the end of the year, but demand rebounded by the end of 2023, with absorption of 24,000 units to end the year. Last year was a standout year for the Southeast apartment market, with demand crossing the 40,000-unit high-water mark once again during the third quarter, and that surge continued into the early months of 2025, according to RealPage.
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Supply hasn’t been far behind rising demand in the region. Roughly 50,000 new multifamily units were delivered last year, a 22% increase over 2023’s record-breaking pace of completions, the report said. However, annual deliveries started to dip in early 2025 and are expected to decline further throughout this year and into 2026.
Meanwhile, multifamily permits, an indicator of future supply, have been declining for nearly two years. Across the seven major markets in RealPage’s Southeast region universe, just over 24,000 multifamily permits were issued in 2024, down 25% from 2023, said RealPage. In the first quarter, multifamily permits dipped to their lowest level in almost four years.
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Kristen Smithberg
Kristen Smithberg is a Colorado-based freelance writer who covers commercial real estate, insurance, benefits and retirement topics for BenefitsPRO and other industry publications.
