Across the U.S., apartment markets adding the most new supply are also cutting rents at the most severe clip – with one exception. Savannah, GA was the only U.S. apartment market to add more than 4% inventory in the past year and still maintain any notable rent growth. Supply was much higher than usual in Savannah in the year-ending 1st quarter 2024, with the addition of 2,089 units increasing the existing base by a sizable 6.5%, according to data from RealPage Market Analytics. This made Savannah one of only 14 U.S. markets with inventory growth above 6% in the past year. Among those markets, only Savanna saw positive rent growth, with an increase of 1.5% year-over-year. All other markets with inventory growth of more than 6% cut rents by at least 1.5% in the past year. In fact, if we were to extend that measure to markets with 4% or more inventory growth in the past year, of those 26 markets, Savannah was still the only one to see any meaningful rent growth.
