A new report series from Arbor and Chandan Economics explores the many facets of affordable housing and the major trends shaping the market. It’s a critical time to focus on affordable housing, as pandemic-related headwinds and longstanding structural forces have impacted housing affordability.

After struggling through the first half of the year, the U.S. multifamily market burst through in the third quarter of 2021. Moody’s Analytics REIS reported that effective rent growth climbed 7.9% year-over-year, up from -1.6% for the second quarter. The vacancy rate improved to 4.7%, down from 5.3% in the previous quarter.

Multifamily rent growth for the U.S. overall was up 7.9% year-over-year during the third quarter of 2021, as Sun Belt markets continued to drive the recovery.

Las Vegas remained one of the nation’s top multifamily performers in the third quarter of 2021, with among the highest rent growth among large markets. After a brief pause at the onset of the pandemic, investors once again flooded into the market as sales volume neared a pace to reach 2019’s record high. The market also rose to the top of our Arbor-Chandan Large Multifamily Opportunity Matrix in 2021.

The Q3 2021 Small Multifamily Investment Trends Report finds that the asset class may be less impacted by work from home trends than larger properties as fewer small multifamily tenants can work remotely. See how the small multifamily sector performed by reading the full report.

Our 2021 Top Markets for Large Multifamily Investment Report ranks the top 50 U.S. metros based on eight key categories. Presented in the Arbor-Chandan Large Multifamily Opportunity Matrix, the top-ranking markets scored high in factors like labor market performance, renter demographics, population growth and COVID-19 response.