Look no further than Kansas City for one of the most burgeoning apartment rental hotspots in the Heartland. Ever since apartment deliveries reached a trough of 233 units in 2011, developers have ramped up construction activity year after year to meet healthy rental demand, though often still trailing robust leasing activity. This trend continued in the first half of 2016, with 2,170 newly occupied apartments exceeding 1,650 multifamily units added to the metro area inventory. What’s contributing to this demand? And will rapid market growth and expansion continue? Job growth, tech boom Employment gains are a big reason rental market demand continues to outweigh supply. For the last six years, greater Kansas City has experienced annual average employment gains of 1.5 percent to support sustained rental demand. After steady, though moderate gains in the last half of 2015, employers accelerated hiring with 10,500 additions from January to June, a 1 percent expansion over the previous six months. The six-month hires capped an annual increase of 1.5 percent since mid-2015 with 15,900 new personnel. To no surprise, the rise in employment has coincided with the rise in renters, as they’ve been attracted to new inventory around employment hubs. The Downtown/East Kansas …
