Report Analyzes COVID’s Impact on Northern California Multifamily

Woodmont Real Estate Services recently released a market report that analyzes the impact of the pandemic on apartment rents, occupancy and trends, using its assets under management spread across all Bay Area, North Bay and Sacramento submarkets as bellwether information. The report compares metrics from the first four months of 2021 with the first four months of 2020.

Data at a Glance:

• Occupancy April 30, 2021: 90.6 percent
• Occupancy April 20, 2020: 92.1 percent
• Average weekly traffic per community first four months of 2021: 10 tours per week
• Same average weekly traffic first four months of 2020: Seven tours per week
• Average apartment rent April 30, 2021: $2,494
• Average apartment rent April 30, 2020: $2,732
• Total concessions per lease in the first four months of 2021: $2,103 per lease
• Total concessions per lease in the first four months of 2020: $659 per lease
• Net effective rent per month at the end of April 2021: $2,319
• Net effective rent per month at the end of April 2020: $2,677

“As everyone knows, last year the economy ground to a halt in April and May, and we expect the results of the next reporting period – May 1 to August 31 of 2020 compared with the same four months this year will really reveal what happened during the depths of the pandemic compared with the spring and summer months this year,” said Jeff Bosshard, president, multifamily operations for Woodmont.

Traffic actually increased in the first four months this year, or 10 weekly tours at each community, compared with seven per week in the months between January and April 2020.

“Increased traffic reflects a clear re-opening of the economy as it is the first step toward occupancy,” according to Bosshard.

Total concessions tripled, spiking from $659 per lease executed in 2020 to $2,103 per lease this year. The concessions dropped net effective rents for the period from $2,677 at the close of April 2020 to $2,319 by the end of April 2021.