Roland Murphy

The Phoenix market is on fire, and multifamily is seeing the biggest benefits of the market growth. There is increased investment activity and strong demand, yet despite the good news, Phoenix apartment rent growth is only nominal year-over-year. According to a recent report from ABI Multifamily, rents in the Phoenix metro grew only .6% year-over-year.

“We were second only to Las Vegas in average rent growth and have recently taken the top spot in median rent growth,” Roland Murphy, director of Research ABI Multifamily, tells GlobeSt.com. “It would be easy to assume with our positive population and employment deltas that rents would skyrocket, but that ignores some important practical realities.”

For example, when apartments don’t rent immediately, it can impact the rent growth numbers in the market. “Owners are generally very savvy. Even in a hot market like Phoenix, it takes time to turn a unit that’s been vacated, and a unit that sits empty for a couple months doesn’t generate any income, even if it’s pre-booked for the moment it becomes available,” says Murphy.