Apartments: Watch the Numbers in Jobs and Units

CHICAGO—Ten apartment markets that bear watching by investors, and each for different reasons. In Denver, for example, a key factor is the rapid job growth, while in Dallas it’s the fast pace of new construction. One thing investors ought to keep an eye on for each of the 10 markets—Austin, TX; Boston; Houston; Kansas City, MO; Las Vegas; Portland, OR; the Research Triangle in North Carolina; and Tucson, AZ as well as Dallas and Denver—is “the employment rate as it relates to multifamily development,” Reid Bennett, Chicago-based national council chair of multifamily properties for Sperry Van Ness International, tells GlobeSt.com.

In many of the MSAs which Bennett tracks on a monthly basis, “We’re seeing an influx of jobs in many sectors, but we’re also seeing a different effect” in many of them. Atlanta and Dallas, for example, have comparable numbers in terms of brisk employment growth, “but Dallas has 6,500 more apartment units that they’re bringing to market. It’s interesting watching the employment rate as it relates to the number of units being brought to market.”