Walker & Dunlop releases summer quarterly report on apartment sector

Regionally, the strongest apartment markets are concentrated in the Southeast and parts of the West, according to Walker & Dunlop.

Markets in which apartment vacancy was less than 5 percent as of June and rents increased at a double-digit pace over the past year include Baltimore; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Southern California’s Inland Empire; Las Vegas; Miami; Orange County, Calif.; Phoenix; Sacramento; Salt Lake City; and Tampa, Fla. While vacancy rates remain relatively high in the San Francisco Bay Area, the market is improving rapidly, with effective rents up by nearly 7 percent in the second quarter.

Sales volume of market-rate apartments at $46.6 billion in the first half of the year was up 35 percent from a year ago, but at a similar pace as the average for the first half of the year over the previous five years. Cap rates remain low, averaging 5.3 percent in the second quarter, similar to the previous quarter and down by 8 basis points from a year ago. Centr