The National Multifamily Housing Council and the National Apartment Association launched the latest phase of “WeAreApartments,” a marketing campaign that promotes the importance of the apartment industry to the U.S. economy.
Using research from George Mason University’s Center for Regional Analysis, the groups claim that there are more than 37 million Americans—12% of the population—living in just under 20 million apartment units nationwide. Apartments and their residents contribute $1.3 trillion annually to the economy through construction, property management, and other jobs the industry supports.
This research provides some interesting factoids about the apartment sector: For example, 49% are one-person households, compared to 24% of apartments with three or more people in them. The highest portion of apartment buildings—27%—has either 50 units or more, or a between five and nine units. The apartment housing stock is aging, too: more than half was built between 1959 and 1979.
The campaign contends that the country needs between 300,000 and 400,000 new apartments each year to keep up with demand.
Apartments contribute more to the New York metropolitan area’s economy—$111.5 billion annually—than in any other market. Multifamily accounted for 44% of residential permits issued in Dallas-Fort Worth last year. And $2.3 billion was spent on apartment construction in Los Angeles.
(The campaign’s website includes an Apartment Community Estimator, which allows metros and states to figure out the economic construction from the apartment sector in their respective areas.)
The campaign contends that the country needs between 300,000 and 400,000 new apartments each year to keep up with demand. “What construction has accelerated in response, many communities still lack sufficient housing options,” it reports.
To get its message out, the groups sponsoring this campaign have devised a new series of print and online ads that attempts to get beyond perceived stereotypes about apartment dwellers. For example, one ad shows a young African-American woman sitting in the kitchen of her apartment. The ad describes her as “Botanist. Swim Coach. Pickle Easter. Renter,” followed by the campaign’s tagline “Apartments. We Live Her.” Another ad states humorously that “Liberals Live In Them. So Do Conservatives, But In Another Wing.”
One of the campaign’s more provocative messages is that apartment dwellers are fulfilling their “The American Dream.” That phrase, heretofore, had been reserved for homeownership, but younger Americans’ avidity for owning a house is still uncertain.
Related Stories
MFPRO+ News | May 13, 2024
Special multifamily report indicates ‘two supply scenarios’
Could we be headed towards a “period of stagflation?” That's the question Andrew Semmes, Senior Research Analyst, poses in the Matrix May 2024 Multifamily Rent Forecast update.
MFPRO+ News | May 10, 2024
HUD strengthens flood protection rules for new and rebuilt residential buildings
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued more stringent flood protection requirements for new and rebuilt homes that are developed with, or financed with, federal funds. The rule strengthens standards by increasing elevations and flood-proofing requirements of new properties in areas at risk of flooding.
Adaptive Reuse | May 9, 2024
Hotels now account for over one-third of adaptive reuse projects
For the first time ever, hotel to apartment conversion projects have overtaken office-to-residential conversions.
Mass Timber | May 8, 2024
Portland's Timberview VIII mass timber multifamily development will offer more than 100 affordable units
An eight-story, 72,000-sf mass timber apartment building in Portland, Ore., topped out this winter and will soon offer over 100 affordable units. The structure is the tallest affordable housing mass timber building and the first Type IV-C affordable housing building in the city.
MFPRO+ News | May 1, 2024
On the Domino Sugar refinery site, new Brooklyn condominiums offer views of the Manhattan skyline
In Brooklyn, New York’s Williamsburg neighborhood, the new One Domino Square is the first condominium development and the third ground-up residential building on the site of the Domino Sugar refinery. The 700,000-sf project is adjacent to Domino Square and anchors a new 11-acre public park.
MFPRO+ News | Apr 29, 2024
World’s largest 3D printer could create entire neighborhoods
The University of Maine recently unveiled the world’s largest 3D printer said to be able to create entire neighborhoods. The machine is four times larger than a preceding model that was first tested in 2019. The older model was used to create a 600 sf single-family home made of recyclable wood fiber and bio-resin materials.
Senior Living Design | Apr 24, 2024
Nation's largest Passive House senior living facility completed in Portland, Ore.
Construction of Parkview, a high-rise expansion of a Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) in Portland, Ore., completed recently. The senior living facility is touted as the largest Passive House structure on the West Coast, and the largest Passive House senior living building in the country.
ProConnect Events | Apr 23, 2024
5 more ProConnect events scheduled for 2024, including all-new 'AEC Giants'
SGC Horizon present 7 ProConnect events in 2024.
Mixed-Use | Apr 23, 2024
A sports entertainment district is approved for downtown Orlando
This $500 million mixed-use development will take up nearly nine blocks.
Resiliency | Apr 22, 2024
Controversy erupts in Florida over how homes are being rebuilt after Hurricane Ian
The Federal Emergency Management Agency recently sent a letter to officials in Lee County, Florida alleging that hundreds of homes were rebuilt in violation of the agency’s rules following Hurricane Ian. The letter provoked a sharp backlash as homeowners struggle to rebuild following the devastating 2022 storm that destroyed a large swath of the county.