Axiometrics Data Shows Strong Apartment Market

DALLAS--The national apartment market recorded a monthly occupancy rate of 95.3 percent last month, along with annual effective rent growth of 5 percent--the fourth straight month the metric was at or above 5 percent, according to a new report from Dallas-based Axiometrics.

The four-month 5 percent rent-growth streak was the first since May-August 2011. The rate was also the highest May figure since the 5 percent of May 2011.

The May occupancy rate, a 12-basis-point (bps) increase from April and a 28-bps increase from May 2014, was the highest since Axiometrics started monthly reporting in 2008, topping the 95.2 percent of August 2014. Based on quarterly reporting before that, the rate was the highest since the 95.7 percent in the first quarter of 2001.

Multifamily, the report also shows, is thriving in Dallas-Fort Worth.

“The Dallas-Fort Worth region is among the strongest apartment markets in the nation, and the strongest in Texas by a large margin,” Stephanie McCleskey, vice president of research for Axiometrics, told GlobeSt.com. “Annual effective rent growth in the Dallas-Plano-Irving Metropolitan Division was 6.3 percent and was 5.9 percent in the Fort Worth-Arlington Metropolitan Division. Occupancy was 95.5 percent in both divisions in May. Continued strong job growth and population growth are allowing landlords to push rents, and absorption of all the new supply remains strong."

Nationally, the May annual effective rent-growth rate was 10 bps lower than the April rate of 5.1 percent. But the metric was 143 bps higher than the 3.6 percent of May 2014, which came near the beginning of last year's impressive growth trend. National effective rent growth has maintained a remarkably steady rate, says Axiometrics, over the past six months, remaining within a 20-bps range.