Apartment Supply Volumes Climb for a Second Quarter, but Remain Far Below the Peak

U.S. apartment completions rose for a second consecutive quarter, but new supply remains far below its 2024 peak.

A little over 82,000 units wrapped up construction nationwide in 3rd quarter, marking the highest quarterly total so far in 2026, according to data from Realpage Market Analytics. However, that was still the market’s smallest 3rd quarter delivery volume since 2019.

This is the fifth consecutive quarter in which delivery volumes hit below the 100,000-unit mark. Quarterly completions first topped 100,000 units in 2nd quarter 2023, then peaked in 3rd quarter 2024 before easing. Quarterly deliveries bottomed out at about 71,900 units in 1st quarter 2026. Even with two consecutive increases, 3rd quarter completions were about half the roughly 160,000 units delivered in the peak of the current construction cycle.

Year-to-date completions through 3rd quarter 2026 totaled about 231,000 units, equating to 27% less than the same period in 2025.

Two straight quarterly increases suggest completions have moved off their early 2026 low, but the rebound is modest against the scale of the recent delivery wave. With supply running at roughly 77,000 units per quarter so far in 2026, compared with about 101,000 per quarter in 2025 and 147,000 in 2024, the pipeline is far lighter than it has been recently.

The South region again led the nation, with roughly 41,100 units completed in 3rd quarter 2026, about half of all U.S. deliveries. That was up about 1,200 units from 2nd quarter 2026 but 14% below 3rd quarter 2025 and more than 55% below the region's peak of about 92,500 units in 2nd quarter 2024.

The West followed with 18,700 units delivered in 3rd quarter, up nearly 11% from the 2nd quarter volume. Still, that was down about 5,000 units from the year-earlier showing.

The Midwest saw the biggest jump in deliveries in 3rd quarter and was the only region where supply ran ahead of last year’s pace. Roughly 13,100 units delivered here in 3rd quarter, a volume that was up 23% from the 2nd quarter 2026 showing and 38% above the 3rd quarter 2025 figure.

The Northeast was the only region to see fewer units completed in 3rd quarter 2026 (9,121 units) than in 2nd quarter. This was also the region, however, that saw the smallest decline year-over-year.

Markets seeing the most new deliveries in 3rd quarter were Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Austin and Atlanta, where completions were north of 3,000 units in the July to September time frame.