Courtesy of Berkadia.

An estimated 21,384 new apartments are slated to open this year, almost double the 11,922 delivered in 2022, commercial real estate firm Berkadia said in its 2023 market forecast. 

Atlanta’s booming economy and population growth will continue to be the “twin forces” that drive the local multifamily market, with the desirable submarkets around Atlanta’s urban core seeing robust growth, particularly Midtown, where 2,792 new apartments are expected. 

Despite the outsized pace of deliveries in Midtown relative to other city submarkets, Berkadia expects developers there to enjoy strong demand, with 2,160 net move-ins projected.  

Indeed, Berkadia expects healthy fundamentals to drive solid apartment performance not only in the central core submarkets, but across the entire metro, where effective rent is forecast to rise 2.4% year over year to $1,719 a month, an increase that will be met with a 3.5% gain in household income.  

Average occupancy is forecast to end the year at 93.8%, down slightly from 94.3% in 2022 and 97% in 2021, Berkadia added.