After a booming six-year apartment rental market, which hit a low vacancy rate of 4.2% in 2014 and 2015, with a peak of rental prices reaching more than 5% late in 2015, the current year seems to be marking a slowdown, especially in major U.S. cities.
While this is not yet indicating a major reversal in the switch from condos and housing ownership, a balance seemed to have been reached between unfulfilled demand and apartment supply shortage. The first-quarter 2016 building climbed by just 20,000 units, in comparison to the last five-year average of 40,000 during similar periods.