Why lease-ups are stifling rent growth

The impact of the high number of new apartments in lease-up “has been much stronger and longer than anyone anticipated in the market,” one economist told Multifamily Dive.

Although the pandemic-era apartment supply wave is abating, the high number of new apartments in the lease-up stage is suppressing the ability for operators to raise rents.

Paul Fiorilla, director of research at Yardi, found in a Sept. 4 analysis that rent growth is “highly correlated” with the number and share of new building stock in lease-up in a given market. At the beginning of August, 1.2 million units were in lease-up nationwide — down from the early 2025 peak of 1.4 million apartments, but about double the average seen in the previous decade...

   ...more

RSK: Greater Madison is reaching this stage.