Apartment conversions are mounting a serious comeback, with more than 20,100 such projects set to be finalized this year. That's more than double the number of conversions that were completed in the past two years combined. 

Of those slated for construction, 42% are former office buildings, accelerating a trend analysts first noted in the 2010. Former office buildings a quarter of projects in which more than 52,700 units are expected to become available in 2022, according to a RentCafe analysis of Yardi Matrix data.

"That's 12,300 rental apartments in the pipeline to match the 13,250 that have already been converted in the last two years," RentCafe's Alexandra Ciuntu says.  "Notably, work-from-home arrangements that came as a result of the pandemic also spurred office transformations nationwide, although these weren't as abundant as hotel redevelopments in the wake of the hospitality industry crisis."