Columbus Multifamily Report – September 2025
This market is showing outsized asking rent gains.
The Columbus multifamily market emerged as one of the country’s top performers, thanks to balanced fundamentals and healthy demand during the first half of 2025. Average advertised, asking rents were up 0.6 percent on a trailing three-month basis, to $1,375, clocking in at three times the 0.2 percent U.S. growth rate. Year-over-year, Columbus rent gains reached 3.9 percent, second only to Chicago (4.1 percent) among Yardi Matrix’s top 30 metros.
The metro’s employment growth was up 1.0 percent as of May, 20 basis points above the national rate. Professional and business services led gains, accounting for 6,500 of the 18,400 net positions added.
The area’s unemployment rate stood at 4.7 percent as of June, 60 basis points higher than the U.S. figure, according to preliminary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Vantage Data Centers announced a new $1 billion data center project in central Texas. The development is expected to break ground before the end of this year, with completion slated for 2027.
A total of 1,782 units, or 0.9 percent of existing stock, came online this year through July, 70 basis points behind the national rate of completions. The metro’s five-year average clocked in at 5,650 units delivered yearly. Transaction activity remained slow, with just $238 million in deals recorded year-to-date through July, marking the slowest pace in Columbus in a decade.
