Kansas City Multifamily Report – Winter 2020
Wrapping up a healthy 2019, the metro's rental segment continues to display steady fundamentals.
Kansas City rent evolution, click to enlarge
Kansas City’s multifamily market continued its momentum last year, with rents increasing at a healthy rate, coupled with robust investment activity and a healthy job market. Developers were mostly focused on delivering upscale assets—2,855 of the 2,993 units that came online were in the Lifestyle segment. The metro’s downtown saw the highest activity (2,675 units underway), followed by the Overland Park-Southeast submarket (1,176 units).
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Kansas City sales volume and number of properties sold, click to enlarge
In the 12 months ending in November, the metro gained 15,500 jobs, up 1.5 percent year-over-year. The education and health services sector led employment gains by adding almost half of all new jobs (7,100). The largest year-over-year increase was seen in the mining, logging and construction sector—9.4 percent as of November. Kansas City’s industrial and office markets are expanding exponentially, with Walmart’s $200 million distribution center in Topeka contributing to the construction sector’s growth.
Deliveries in 2019 were lower than the previous three-year average, but development remains strong, as more than 7,800 units were underway as of December. As new inventory slowed, occupancy in stabilized properties leveled off, at 94.8 percent as of November.
