From 2010 to 2012, the Carolinas were home to some of the hottest apartment markets in the country—both large and small—thanks to great demographics, solid job growth, strong apartment demand, and big rent growth. But the story line is beginning to change.
North Carolina and South Carolina have been home to some of the nation’s hottest apartment markets in the past couple years. But that momentum hasn’t extended to the Greensboro/Winston-Salem area, where a weak economy continues to drag down apartment fundamentals.
MPF Research generally has lots of love for the apartment markets in the Carolinas. However, it’s tough to pass along a blanket endorsement to such a sizable area, and Greensboro/Winston-Salem is the key locale in the region where the performance is, in fact, not so hot.
Greensboro/Winston-Salem is a good example of an area where top-tier product performances look great, but there’s still work to do in other segments.
The Triad ranked among the nation’s top-performing apartment markets in 2010, but the pace of growth has slowed down notably in 2011.
Apartment building activity in the Southeast is expected to pick up in the next year, with the number of new construction starts in 2012 likely to top this year’s total by 50 percent.
Recycling apartment sites certainly isn’t a new thing, but that pattern really just emerged during the most recent building cycle in Sun Belt locales across the Southeast and into Texas.
Are the smaller secondary markets keeping pace with the major metros in 2010? Watch this episode of Apartment Market Dynamics to find out.