A small handful of major markets defied the broader negative new lease rate trend across the country that has been driven by pressure from the national supply wave over the past couple of years. Across the United States, new leases were cut by an average of 4.4% annually as of late 2024, according to RealPage Market Analytics data.
However, Anaheim, Columbus, Kansas City, New York, Philadelphia and Virginia Beach were outliers to this trend in 2024, with each posting flat to modest growth in the category, while the rest of the nation was slashing rents, the report said.
All six markets hit a low point for new lease trade-out toward the end of last year, as supply was peaking nationwide. Leading the group was Anaheim, where trade-out bottomed out at 1.4% in December. Columbus posted growth of 0.9%, followed by Kansas City at 0.8% and New York at 0.6%. Philadelphia and Virginia Beach were almost unchanged in 2024, each at 0.1%. By comparison, Austin and Denver were cutting new leases roughly 10% over the same period.
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The U.S. average inventory growth ratio in 2024 was 3%, compared with 0.7% in Anaheim, 2.9% in Columbus, 1.9% in Kansas City, 1% in New York, 2.4% in Philadelphia and 1.8% in Virginia Beach. RealPage said these markets generally have attracted less development interest over the past few years, resulting in more modest apartment supply gains, which have allowed operators to leverage greater pricing power.
Columbus appears to be an exception. There, a steady supply wave is not expected to peak until later this year. New York and Anaheim have seen comparatively low inventory growth rates, and both have yet to hit peak delivery volumes, the report said.
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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.
