Housing leasing appears to be recovering.
The indicator showed signs of improvement in the third quarter, according to a new report from RealPage, and other recent data also showed healthy activity in space, possibly pointing to the beginning of the recovery for the second half of 2020.
Greg Willett, chief economist for the real estate technology and analytics firm, was cautiously optimistic. "While the US economy has a long way to go before it is fully healed, there is enough job production to allow the formation of new households in some areas so that housing demand is back," he said in prepared remarks .
Occupied homes rose nearly 147,000 units and more than quadrupled absorption in the second quarter. Even more promising, demand in the third quarter increased 8% year over year.
This research follows the AppFolio data that also found improvement following the first six weeks of the pandemic after a sharp drop in the early days of COVID-19's arrival in the US.
"At the start of the pandemic, our early data indicated a significant drop in lead volume as people in a number of states became accustomed to home assignments and physical distancing mandates," said Stacy Holden, industry leader and director. “After about six weeks, however, leasing activity largely recovered to the expected level. People still want to move to places that suit their needs. "
Social trends, such as the increase in work from home and distance learning, also drove leasing higher. "With many people having the opportunity to work remotely this year, the need to live near the office may have decreased for some," she said.
Still other metrics for recent apartment activity paint a mixed picture.
According to RealPage, effective asking rents in the USA will be 1.2 percent below the previous year's figures from the third quarter. More recently, the ApartmentList reported this The rents have fallen in almost half of the country's 100 largest markets.
