Houston No. 1 in 2016 apartment supply; rents slide

​​​ HOUSTON – A huge wave of new apartment completions late in the year pushed Houston to the top of the national rankings for new apartment supply in 2016.

Such new supply volumes, combined with lingering uncertainty about the health of the energy sector, perpetuated rent cuts across much of the metro.​

A slew of new properties moving through initial lease-up at the end of 2016 fueled unusually strong demand for 5,283 units in fourth quarter 2016.

Apartment properties finished during the final three months of the year in Houston totaled 8,193 units.

The late 2016 additions marked the metro’s biggest block of quarterly new supply since the late 1990s and landed Houston atop the national leaderboard for new supply in fourth quarter 2016.

Houston also led all metros nationally for completions in 2016. The Bayou City metro received 22,471 units this year, a multi-decade high. 

Monthly rents now average $1,018 in metro Houston.​​

Year-end 2016 apartment occupancy stood at 93.2 percent in Houston, down from 93.8​ in late 2015. ​