2024 NMHC 50 Underscores Challenges Over Past Year, but Projects Cautious Optimism for 2024

NMHC 50 top owners represent nearly 10% of the total U.S. apartment stock

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Despite facing significant challenges in 2023, including tightening monetary policy, the U.S. apartment market is showing signs of resilience as demand is expected to remain strong over the long term.

Although the last year saw a decrease in both apartment starts and sales volume, notable deals occurred, indicating investor confidence in the underlying fundamentals and long-term outlook for apartment investment. With a solid economic foundation and anticipated rate cuts from the Federal Reserve, coupled with strong demand for rental properties, cautious optimism prevails for the multifamily sector.

Collectively, the NMHC 50 owners control nearly 10% of the total U.S. apartment stock and NMHC 50 managers oversee about one fifth of the nation’s apartments. This market share held by larger owners and managers in this survey has remained relatively unchanged over recent years.

“2023 was clearly a challenging year for many rental housing providers, builders and managers due to economic uncertainty, interest rate hikes, and rising uncontrollable costs such as insurance, construction costs, wages and local and state property taxes,” said Sharon Wilson Géno, NMHC President. “That being said, we are cautiously optimistic for 2024 and beyond. Given the housing shortage across the United States, the need for rental housing remains strong. To build the housing that will help meet renter demand, we call on lawmakers at all levels of government to enact policy solutions that expand housing supply and opportunity, remove regulatory barriers to development and reject approaches that ultimately increase the costs for renters, such as rent regulations.”

The long-term consistency of the NMHC 50 lists show the important role these firms play for a portion of the overall rental market and demonstrates why investors of all types continue to look for opportunities in this industry.

Top Line Takeaways from This Year’s Survey

Top Owner: Greystar (headquartered in Charleston, SC) with 108,566 apartment homes owned.

Top Manager: Greystar (headquartered in Charleston, SC) with 798,272 apartments under management.

Top Developer: Greystar (headquartered in Charleston, SC) with 9,151 apartments started in 2023.

Top Builder: Summit Contracting Group, Inc. (headquartered in Jacksonville, FL) with 12,467 apartments started in 2023.

Top Syndicator: Boston Financial Investment Management, LP (headquartered in Boston, MA) with a portfolio of 163,706 syndicated apartment units.

Additional Rental Housing and NMHC 50 Highlights

2,432,766 – Number of total units owned by NMHC 50 top owners, representing nearly 10% of the total U.S. apartment stock.

4,725,579 – Number of units collectively managed by NMHC 50 top managers.

105,349 – Number of units started by NMHC 25 top builders in 2023.

95,914 – Number of units started by NMHC 25 top developers in 2023.

94.6% – Overall 2023 apartment occupancy rate.

4.3 million – Number of apartment homes that need to be built by 2035 to meet the needs of renters across the country.

This is the 35th annual edition of the NMHC 50 rankings. All apartment developers and builders are invited to answer a survey questionnaire that asks about their prior year's activities, while apartment owners, managers and syndicators are asked to report their portfolio holdings (either owned, managed or syndicated) as of January 1, 2024.

Additional Resources

Survey Methodology and Definitions

NMHC 50 FAQ

Based in Washington, D.C., the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) is where rental housers and suppliers come together to help meet America’s housing needs by creating inclusive and resilient communities where people build their lives. We bring together the owners, managers, developers and suppliers who provide rental homes for 40 million Americans from every walk of life—including seniors, teachers, firefighters, healthcare workers, families with children and many others. NMHC provides a forum for leadership and advocacy that promotes thriving rental housing communities for all. For more information, contact NMHC at 202/974-2300, e-mail the Council at [e-mail], or visit NMHC's website at nmhc.org.