How is the U.S. multifamily market performing since the pandemic?

There is no doubt that the pandemic had an impact on the global multifamily (build to rent) market. In the US, the urban core markets were hit the hardest, with people deciding to move back in with family and out of highly populated areas. There was an upward pressure on rental prices and a dramatic increase in vacant units.

But what is the multifamily forecast for 2022 and beyond? Has the sector bounced back from the impacts of the pandemic?

Colleen Pentland-Lally from CBRE showcases a very positive outlook for the USA & Rest of world, with the market ‘the strongest it’s ever been’, and rent and occupancies ‘flying back’ since the pandemic.

• Most major markets in the U.S. are beyond pre pandemic rental prices
• Last year, 617,000 units were absorbed, shattering records and demand far outpacing supply. Even though supply is growing in health now.
• The market traded at $335 billion last year, which was a 75% increase over the previous records (2019).

With the exception of San Francisco, 2021 smashed all previous records across the board for every metric in the United States. Rents are up, and vacancies are down!

It's clear that the sector was affected by the pandemic, but it seems to have been a very short term pain for multifamily in the U.S.

Want to know more about the future of multifamily? Colleen speaks on investor sentiment, technology integrating with multifamily in the future and more on the podcast episode below.