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This Jay Parsons research article spoke to me because of the amount of Sarasota information and how impactful it is. CLICK HERE <— for complete article and other from Jay Parsons

Which markets are of increasing and decreasing appeal to apartment buyers? Let’s take a look. This chart looks at each market’s share of total U.S. apartment sales so far this decade (2020-24) and then shows how much that market share has changed versus the 2010s decade.

The results include some surprises and non-surprises. Takeaways:

1) Most major gateway markets are losing investors’ “share of wallet.” New York is still the No. 3 market for apartment sales, but its market share has fallen 5.3 ppts. Los Angeles (which I wrote about yesterday) is down 1.7 ppts on market share. Also down at least 0.5 ppts: DC, Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago and San Jose — all coastal markets outside of Chicago. Some of this is impacted by COVID’s more severe impact in gateway markets; but even if we isolate to the past couple years, the story doesn’t dramatically change.

2) Among metro areas losing sizable market share, the one surprise is DC. I wouldn’t have expected it on this list of metro areas losing market share, considering its appeal to investors of all sizes.

3) Other SURPRISE metros losing market share but to a lesser degree (down less than 0.5 ppts): Northern New Jersey, Houston, Denver, Orange County and Long Island. Houston and Denver are the biggest surprises there given their regional peers moved upward.

4) And the exception to the shrinking-share-in-gateway-markets rule: Boston, whose market share held steady at 2%. Boston and its suburbs remain popular bets.

5) The big gainers in sales volume market share almost all in the Sun Belt: Dallas/Fort Worth (+1.3 ppts to a nation-leading 7.4% of all U.S. apartment sales this decade) and Phoenix (+1.1). Behind them are Miami, Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville, Orlando and Indianapolis — all up 0.4 to 0.8 ppts this decade. At at +0.3 ppts: San Antonio, Charleston, Austin, Fort Lauderdale and Sarasota.

5) Indianapolis’ growth (+0.4) provides evidence that the talk of Indy becoming a more institutional market is playing out in the data. Another popular Midwest pick, Kansas City, was up 0.2 ppts.

6) Interesting to see big gains in smaller markets like Charleston and Sarasota. On the “Rental Housing Trivia” segment of my podcast last week, I mentioned that, among metro areas outside the top 50 in size, Charleston ranks — by far — as the top market for apartment sales over the last five years. Might be the most institutional “tertiary” market in the U.S., perhaps aided in bit in industry reputation by Greystar’s HQ. Sarasota ranked second, followed by Greenville SC, Tucson AZ, Louisville KY, Savannah GA, Oklahoma City OK, Bridgeport CT, Colorado Springs CO and Fort Myers FL.

7) Any surprises among markets that DID NOT rank as bigger market share gainers? Ones that come to mind are Raleigh (+0.1), Tampa (+0.2), Salt Lake City (+0.2), San Diego (+0.1)

Which markets are big movers over the next cycle? Any bets?