AN UPDATE ON THE NEW CONSTRUCTION PIPELINE
by Jordan Brooks
Market Analyst | ALN Apartment Data
T hough apartment demand has been missing in action all year , it has only been within the last few months that the wind came belatedly came out of the rent growth sails . For Greater San Antonio multifamily , net absorption through October was negative by more than 1,000 units . This shortfall has taken its toll on average occupancy , but new supply coming in on the lower end of the range established over the last five years has helped to prevent an even more acute downward movement .
All numbers will refer to conventional properties of at least 50 units .
Average Construction Duration
ALN measures construction duration as the amount of time between a construction start date and a lease start date . Construction times have continued to grow this year , and Greater San Antonio has been no exception . Prior to 2021 , the average construction duration had been between 12 and 14 months for the last handful of years .
In 2021 , that average increased to just over 15 months . For those properties that started leasing so far in 2022 , the average duration has grown to nearly 17 months . For context , the national average for properties that began leasing this year has been a 20-month construction time – up from just under 17 months last year .
Recent Deliveries
units have been delivered across Greater San Antonio through the first 10 months of 2022 . The average from the previous three years for the same portion of the calendar was about 3,700 delivered units , so this year has represented a small slowdown .
With approximately 1,100 new units , the Northwest – Helotes – Grey Forest submarket has led the way so far this year . Other regions of the market with notable new supply include Boerne – Comfort with a little more than 500 new units , Thousand Oaks – North of Starcrest with almost 450 new units , and Stone Oak – Sonterra with a little more than 300 units added . 17 of 25 ALN submarkets for Greater San Antonio have had no new supply this year through October .
Under Construction
ALN was tracking roughly 15,000 units under construction for Greater San Antonio as of the end of October . This pipeline volume was up considerably from the number of units that were under construction but not yet leasing at the close of April , at the time of the last look at