The past decade saw an uptick in apartment construction, with over 3.1 million new apartments added to the national inventory, according to a recent StorageCafe study. An interesting feature of those new apartments is that 86% of them can be classified as luxury dwellings, boasting amenities such as rooftop sky decks, gyms, club houses and pools. An even more interesting fact is that Gilbert ranks No. 1 in the nation for luxury apartment construction, according to the study.
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The study analyzed the country’s 100 biggest cities and ranked them based on the percentage of the apartments delivered between 2012 and 2021 that were premier apartments – and Arizonan cities are leading the country, having built mostly high-end apartments over the past decade.
Top 10 Cities for New High-End Apartments
New apartment stock in Gilbert, Chandler and Scottsdale almost fully high end
Gilbert ranks first nationally for luxury apartment construction, with all 4,000-plus new apartments built during the past 10 years qualifying as high-end units. These units have an average size of over 1,000 square feet, which is around 250 square feet more than the non-luxury apartments in the city. And, if renters’ space at home is still not enough, Gilbert’s self storage market is perfectly equipped to compensate, with an inventory of over eight square feet of storage space per capita. Renting a 10’x10’ self storage unit in Gilbert costs around $125 per month and offers tenants enough space to store a variety of stuff, including hobby equipment, seasonal items and household goods.
Chandler ranks second for new high-end apartments, with 99% of the almost 6,800 new units built over the past decade falling into this category. The third Arizonan city in this list, Scottsdale, lands in fourth place, with 98.5% of its 8,600 new apartments being luxury dwellings. In both cases, the premier apartments hover slightly under 1,000 square feet in terms of size, which makes them, on average, about 200 square feet larger than the non-luxury apartments in each city.
Texan cities also go big for luxury apartments
Texas is another state with several cities among the most interested in high-end apartment living. Plano, Texas, makes it to the podium, ranking third with over 98% of its 8,300 apartments built over the past decade considered top-drawer.
Irving and Dallas also make it into the top ten cities nationally, ranking 6th and 7th. In Irving’s case, the past decade saw over 5,600 new apartments built, and 97% of them provide premier living conditions. Dallas, on the other hand, managed to build no less than 55K new apartments over the past decade, of which 96% are located in top-notch complexes boasting great amenities for renters.
Other cities that rank well for luxury apartment construction are Orlando, Florida, and two of Virginia’s most popular tourist destinations, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake.
Looking at sheer volumes of apartment construction, Houston comes out on top
When looking at US cities in terms of the total number of new units built over the past decade, Houston comes out on top, with an impressive 77K units. New York City lands a close second place, having built around 73K new apartments between 2012 and 2021. The third spot nationally goes to another Texan city, Austin, which managed to add 65K new units to the local apartment inventory.
