Tiny Apartments? Arizona Has Them
Arizona is home to some of the tiniest apartment options in the nation, according to a recent study by RENTCafé.
Tucson had the smallest average size of new apartments built in 2016, with Glendale and Mesa coming in fourth and fifth in the nation on the same list. Phoenix came in seventh.
“Much like other major cities in the Southwest, Tucson has seen an increased demand for urban living in recent years, which has spurred apartment construction in the city’s urban core,” RENTCafé real estate editor Ama Otet tells Bisnow. “But building more often translates into higher-density living and, consequently, smaller homes.”
Ama says the data indicates studio apartments in Tucson barely offer 400 SF of living space on average, with one-bedrooms clocking in at 595 SF and two-bedrooms averaging 907 SF. The report notes the Western region having the largest size difference between average luxury and non-luxury apartments, at 967 SF and 763 SF, respectively, as illustrated in the diagram above. This study follows another by RENTCafé that found Tempe brought in only luxury options last year.
RENTCafé’s study found the Western region has pretty small apartments in general, with an average size of 852 SF, compared to the US national average of 889 SF. Beating only California’s apartment sizes (averaging 843 SF), the Western region has the second-to-smallest apartment sizes of RENTCafé’s list of nine regions.
