If you thought the multifamily supply surge in Columbus was enough — think again. Last year, the market set new all-time highs for both construction starts and new deliveries, according to a market report from Colliers. Now, the brokerage predicts the delivery number will expand by even more in 2026 (6.5 percent) to roughly 8,500 units.
This trend is expected to continue to "moderate" rent growth this year, according to Colliers.
However, there is some good news for local multifamily landlords. Colliers forecasts that new market rate starts will plummet by 22.1 percent through 2026, with construction surging in 2025 due to a backlog of delayed projects that made their way through the pipeline.
"New construction is highly concentrated in the suburbs and has pushed out to peripheral secondary Columbus submarkets," Colliers said.
"The urban, and urban adjacent,submarkets are expected to enter an extremely bear supply pipeline which will establish a foundation to reignite rent growth in the urban core and keep suburban rent growth moderate."
Also, it is expected that the rent concessions will taper during the spring. Of the construction pipeline, the Hillard submarket has the highest concentration, at 16.63 percent. That's followed by Downtown + German Village, at 15.78 percent.
Moreover, Colliers released some fourth-quarter figures for multifamily in Columbus. As one might imagine, supply pressure weighed on many fundamentals, including vacancy, which rose to 4.80 percent and rent growth, which increased only slightly by 0.44 percent year-over-year to $1,394. However, the gross absorption posted in the fourth quarter neared record territory, according to Colliers.
Along with starts declining in 2026, the strong amount of credit availability is expected to "weather record supply deliveries," the brokerage said.
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.