Washington, DC, Multifamily Report – February 2025
The capital's report card looks good going into 2025.
Washington, D.C., ended 2024 on a positive note, with most fundamentals at relatively healthy levels compared to the rest of the nation. Average advertised asking rents were down 0.1 percent, on a trailing three-month basis through December, to $2,215. The rate was 10 basis points above the national figure. Year-over-year, rents were up 2.8 percent, well ahead of the nation’s 0.6 percent. The metro ranked sixth among the top 30 metros tracked by Yardi Matrix. Meanwhile, occupancy remained healthy, up 20 basis points year-over-year, to 95.4 percent as of November, also above the 94.7 percent U.S. figure.
Unemployment stood at 3.2 percent in November last year, 100 basis points below the national rate, according to preliminary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Year-over-year job growth was 0.7 percent in the same month, having decelerated in the second half of the year. The metro added 36,800 jobs over the 12-month period ending in November, with professional and business services (11,600 jobs) and education and health services (11,300 jobs) leading gains.
Bucking nationwide trends, development remained strong across the metro, with 12,372 units completed last year. Developers had 31,168 units under construction as of December, 11,155 of which broke ground last year alone. Transaction volume grew $700 million year-over-year, to nearly $3 billion in 2024.
