Columbus Multifamily Report – April 2023
Amid above-average growth, the market is growing when others slow down.
Columbus rent evolution, click to enlarge
Ohio’s capital continues to appeal to tech firms, with companies including Google, Amazon and Meta preserving their local presence, while Intel is planning a new chip plant in the metro. Columbus’ multifamily fundamentals also performed well, surpassing U.S. averages, with rents increasing slightly—up 0.1 percent on a trailing three-month basis through February—while the national rate was on a downward trend for a third consecutive month.
Columbus sales volume and number of properties sold, click to enlarge
Columbus job growth continued to decelerate, up just 1.7 percent year-over-year as of December, trailing the 3.7 percent U.S. figure. Yet the market has been in expansion mode since June 2021, when it recovered all jobs lost during the pandemic. In addition, the unemployment rate dropped to record lows, at 3.4 percent in January, on par with the U.S. and leading the state (4.0 percent), according to preliminary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The government and education and health services sectors led job gains, while professional and business services and financial activities lost 4,700 positions combined.
Columbus. Photo by Sean Pavone/iStockphoto.com
Development increased substantially, as construction starts in 2022 doubled, compared with 2021. Through February, developers delivered 136 units and had another 11,369 underway. Meanwhile, investors traded $43 million in multifamily assets, following the all-time high of $1.7 billion registered in 2022.
