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No Vacancy for Class B Apartments in DC

  • October 16th 2012

by UrbanTurf Staff

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No Vacancy for Class B Apartments in DC: Figure 1
Dorchester House

Last week, UrbanTurf covered what has been happening in the Class A apartment market in the DC area. However, most renters in DC do not live in high-rise Class A buildings, so this article takes a look at the Class B market with some help from Delta Associates’ third quarter report on that sector.

First, a couple definitions. Class A apartments are typically large buildings built after 1991, with full amenity packages. Class B buildings are generally older buildings that have been renovated and/or have more limited amenity packages.

The first thing that the Delta report revealed is that finding a vacant Class B apartment in DC may be virtually impossible. The vacancy rate for mid and high-rise Class B apartments was a mere 1.5 percent in the 3rd quarter, compared to 3.3 percent in Northern Virginia and 4.9 percent in suburban Maryland. While the vacancy rates in Virginia and Maryland rose, the rate in DC actually fell 70 basis points compared with the third quarter of 2011.

As for rents, they remain highest in DC ($1,915) followed by Northern Virginia ($1,632) and are lowest in suburban Maryland ($1,423) where rents for this class of apartment have actually fallen 7.9 percent since last year. Here is a quick snapshot of average rents for Class B mid and high-rise apartments in DC area sub-markets, as defined by Delta:


  • Upper Northwest: $2,171 a month
  • Crystal City: $2,127 a month
  • Falls Church/North Arlington: $2,046 a month

As for where you are paying the most per square foot, Mount Vernon Square led the way ($2.55) followed by NW DC ($2.45) and the Southwest ($2.22). To get the most bang for your buck, venture out to Silver Spring where the price per square foot comes in at just $1.65.

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This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/no_vacancy_for_class_b_apartments_in_dc/6163.

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