News
New Apartments, Same Submarkets
September 19, 2012
| About 4,500 apartment units are under construction in greater Charlotte. That's no glut, says Northwood Ravin CEO David Ravin, but it might not quite be clear sailing ahead. | ||
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| That's a helluva coffee mug. That many new units is around what the market used to deliver annually four or five years ago, David tells us. ?So the number itself is not concerning. Maybe more of a future concern is the fact many of the projects currently under construction are all grouped in the same two or three submarkets, and many of those projects are competing for same renter profile." | ||
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| The market used to see projects scattered across the larger metro area and were built to offer a variety of rental rates, David continues. But now Charlotte has a real concentration in the same ZIP codes and offering mostly the same rents. As for Northwood Ravin, its holdings are in various parts of Charlotte area, including Lake Norman (pictured: the Apartments at Birkdale Village), Southpark, Uptown, Pineville/Ballantyne, Southwest, and other submarkets. | ||
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Greater Charlotte Apartment Association executive director Ken Szymanski gives us five reasons why the local apartment market will continue to see successful growth in the next two years: 1) Reluctance of consumers to commit to mortgage debt. 2) Preference by many consumers for the flexibility of rental housing and 12-month leases. 3) Lifestyle preferences of young adults, with an emphasis on social life, personal time, and short commutes. Also, young adults and others prefer geographic mobility to pursue their career paths. 4) Growth in solo-person households (28% and increasing) at the same time as a declining share of households consisting of dual parents with kids (24% and dropping). 5) Growth of the apartment market still is largely a function of the size of the total labor force: as Charlotte goes, so goes the Charlotte apartment market. |
