HOUSTON—Hurricane Harvey was the strongest storm to hit the region in more than 55 years, dumping 1.2 trillion gallons of rain in a matter of days. A quickly draining construction pipeline and reduced inventory due to flooding is causing supply to tighten.

At the same time, demand from displaced single-family residents, contract workers and natural growth is favoring landlords in increased rentals. Harvey effectively accelerated the multifamily recovery timeline, propelling Houston into a landlord-favored market approximately 18 months ahead of schedule. Pre-Harvey, multifamily absorption exceeded deliveries by almost 2,000 units, driving market-wide occupancy gains through August 2017, according to a report by CBRE. Occupancy has tightened by 120 basis points while net effective rents have risen by 1.5% since the passing of the storm, according to Apartment Data Services.

Approximately 7% of the region's 2.4 million housing units were impacted by Harvey. Housing units include single-family, mobile and multifamily homes. Damage to housing units are categorized as minor damage: 59,536 (2.7%), major damage: 35,975 (1.5%) or destroyed: 3,619 (0.2%), according to houston.org.