Apartment Occupancy Shines in Lawrence, Amid National Softening

Nationwide, apartment occupancy has softened considerably since early 2022 – but not in the small Midwest market of Lawrence, KS. In Lawrence, which sits about 40 miles west of Kansas City and has about 13,000 existing apartment units, occupancy ticked above the national norm in late 2021 and has been consistently rising nearly every month since. As of March, apartment occupancy in Lawrence stood at 98.1%, a top five performance among U.S. markets with 10,000 units or more, according to data from RealPage Market Analytics. The nation’s top occupancy markets as of March also included Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, OH-PA (99.1%), Appleton, WI (98.8%), State College, PA (98.3%) and Green Bay, WI (98.1%). The national norm for occupancy clocked in at 94.1% in March – a decade low for the country. Meanwhile, apartment supply has been reserved in Lawrence for several years running. No new supply has delivered in Lawrence since mid-2022 and the market currently has just 130 units under construction.