October 18, 2018
Washington – Washington, D.C., has overtaken Northern Virginia as the market leader in Class A apartment absorption and oncoming supply. In the 12-month period ending September 2018, 9,052 Class A apartment units were absorbed in the Washington metro area, and 40 percent of these units were in the District, according to research presented by Delta Associates for the 22nd Annual Delta Associates Washington/Baltimore Multifamily Market Overview and Awards for Excellence, sponsored by Altus Group, Payroll Network and United Bank.
The event also included awards for apartment and condominium communities throughout Washington, D.C., Suburban Maryland, Northern Virginia, and Baltimore for factors such as lease-up, sales pace, design and innovation. The market overview report and list of apartment and condominium award winners are available for download at www.multifamilydc.com.
“Washington is in its eighth year of below-average rent growth,” said Delta Associates President Will Rich. “However, there appears to be some light at the end of the tunnel: Class A apartment rents increased metro-wide by 1.4 percent from September 2017 to September 2018, the strongest growth experienced since 2012.”
The Washington condominium market remains supply-constrained, although there has been an upswing in new product coming online. Despite the dearth of supply, price growth is expected to remain in the low-single digits in the short term.
In the Baltimore metro area, absorption of Class A apartments has averaged about 2,000 units per year over the past 10 years. In the 12-month period ending September 2018, absorption reached its highest level on record, with 3,586 units. Of that total, half of the absorption was in Baltimore City.
Currently, there is a strong sense of optimism in the Washington metro area. Three of the 10 finalist cities left in the running for Amazon HQ2 are in the region and speculation reached a fevered pitch last month when Jeff Bezos and Amazon’s Board of Directors held a board meeting in the District.
Rich said, “If any of these three jurisdictions is selected as the home of Amazon HQ2, the impact will be felt throughout the region, with up to 8 million square of development potential and 50,000 new high-paying jobs.”
ABOUT TRANSWESTERN
Transwestern is a privately held real estate firm of collaborative entrepreneurs who deliver a higher level of personalized service – the Transwestern Experience. Specializing in Agency Leasing, Asset Services, Occupier Solutions, Capital Markets and Research, our fully integrated global enterprise adds value for investors, owners and occupiers of all commercial property types. We leverage market insights and operational expertise from members of the Transwestern family of companies specializing in development, real estate investment management and research. Transwestern has 35 U.S. offices and assists clients from more than 221 offices in 37 countries through strategic alliances with France-based BNP Paribas Real Estate and Canada-based Devencore. Experience Extraordinary at transwestern.com and @Transwestern.
ABOUT delta associates
Delta Associates, the consulting affiliate of Transwestern, is a firm of experienced professionals providing services to the commercial real estate industry since 1980. Delta’s main practice areas are (1) consulting, research and advisory services for all property types through the United States, including market feasibility, highest and best use, market entry strategies, asset performance enhancement, market due diligence, white papers on special topics, valuation analysis, and litigation support; and (2) subscription publications for selected metro areas in the Mid-Atlantic for the apartment, condominium, office, retail, and housing markets. For more information, or to sign up for complimentary market information, visit www.deltaassociates.com or follow @DeltaAssociates.
ABOUT ALTUS GROUP
Altus Group Limited is a leading provider of software, data solutions and independent advisory services to the global commercial real estate industry. Our businesses, Altus Analytics and Altus Expert Services, reflect decades of experience, a range of expertise, and technology-enabled capabilities. Our solutions empower clients to analyze, gain insight and recognize value on their real estate investments. Headquartered in Canada, we have approximately 2,500 employees around the world, with operations in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. Our clients include some of the world’s largest real estate industry participants. Altus Group pays a quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share and our shares are traded on the TSX under the symbol AIF. For more information on Altus Group, please visit: www.altusgroup.com.
ABOUT PAYROLL NETWORK
Payroll Network, Inc. provides employers with a complete range of human capital management technology. iSolved® HCM assists HR professionals in managing all aspects of the employee life cycle. iSolved HCM SaaS-based software streamlines your paper intensive processes and integrates human resources administration, payroll, time and labor management, and benefits administration. In addition, it supports your general ledger accounting and job cost allocation. Features include single sign-on, cross entity reporting, employee/manager self-service, and smart phone/tablet apps.
ABOUT UNITED BANK
United Bank is a subsidiary of United Bankshares, Inc., the largest publicly traded company headquartered in West Virginia. It has assets of approximately $18.6 billion and 142 full-service banking locations throughout West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit BankWithUnited.com.
Media Contact:
Emily (Laird) Conrad
301.896.9135
emily.conrad@transwestern.com
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