Housing supply in D.C. is way up, outpacing demand

In 2016, the District permitted 4,682 residential units, the second highest number of housing units since the Census Bureau started keeping track in 1980, as reported by Greater Greater Washington. A total of 24,944 units were permitted for the D.C. area, around the same number of units as in 2013 and 2014.

Greater Greater Washington took a look at the data and further reported, “D.C. continued to permit a historically high share of the region’s new housing units ... which is a trend that has contributed to an elevated share of permits for multifamily housing (buildings that have more than one unit) for the entire region.”

In August 2016, Freddie Mac added that while demand has risen, supply has narrowly outpaced it. Freddie Mac predicted, “Washington, D.C. will continue to see an elevated amount of new supply despite higher forecasted vacancy rates in 2017 relative to the historical average.”

Alongside the strong year for permits, rents have grown, but not as fast as the national growth. Yardi Matrix reported that the D.C. area’s year-over-year multifamily apartment rent growth was 2.6 percent in December 2016, less than the national average growth of 4 percent.

For more data on job growth in the area as well as graphs further illustrating how D.C. compared to other cities last year, be sure to check out Greater Greater Washington’s full article here.

• DC’s apartment boom continued in 2016. Here’s what that means for your rent. [Greater Greater Washington]

• Multifamily Mid-Year Outlook 2016 [Freddie Mac]