DC’s Apartment Vacancy Drops, Construction Booms

• July 28, 2010
• 1 Comment

by Mark Wellborn

DC’s apartment market is booming, based on data from a recent report from MPF Research.

425 Mass

In its mid-year report, the multi-family housing research firm stated that apartment occupancy across the area for the first six months of the year reached just over 95 percent, and rents increased almost four percent.

The findings are in line with what we have been hearing from area apartment projects. We reported earlier this month that 425 Mass (formerly The Dumont) was filling up fast, signing leases with 182 tenants in the first 90 days since opening its doors. Further evidence of an increased demand can be seen by the fact that finding any significant rental concessions in the DC area (all the rage at the end of last year) is fairly difficult.

Here are few other highlights from the report summary:

While there aren’t any real neighborhood-level weak spots for occupancy, a couple of submarkets — North Arlington County and Reston/Herndon — do stand out for their really tight occupancy readings. Unlike other locales across the country, the greater Washington area remains a fairly active building zone. Ongoing construction totals about 5,200 units, and there are some developments that are making it out of the starting gate now.

The surge in the rental market extends to the rest of the country, with Bloomberg attributing the activity to the mounting foreclosures that are reducing homeownership and “an improving job market for young adults encourages them to find their own places to live.”

Similar Posts:

• DC Apartment Rents Increase Slightly

• Free Rent? Monthly Concessions Drying Up in DC Area

• Long Empty, The Dumont Is Now Filling Up Fast

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/dcs_apartment_vacancy_drops_construction_booms/2309

1 Comment

1. John Menti, Realtor said at 9:08 pm on Sunday August 1, 2010:
   The tight rental market for Arlington, Va. is what colleagues and I have been discussing for the past several weeks. It's so tight in some price bands that a few potential tenants are actually deciding to purchase instead when they see how favorably a monthly mortgage payment compares to monthly rent.