Shafiq Hirani CCIMReal Estate Advisor, REMAX Distinctive · Real Estate Advisor at RE/MAX Distinctive Commercial | Washington, DC | Your Guide To Profitable Real Estate Ventures

Apartment Market BOOM: Vacancy Falls, Rents Recovering! #shorts

15 Aug 2026 · 2 min

Watch on YouTube

1:48

In this short, Shafiq Hirani, MBA, CCIM, delivers a concise market update for U.S. multifamily apartments. He highlights that vacancy rates are declining and net absorption has nearly doubled in Q2, citing CoStar’s 8.15% vacancy figure and CBRE’s 4.3% vacancy figure—differences that stem from each firm’s property sample. Both data sets show strong demand and a slowdown in new deliveries (14% YoY decline). Hirani interprets these trends as signaling the strongest rent recovery since 2022, while acknowledging a gap between headline data and on‑the‑ground leasing experiences. He invites viewers to share local leasing conditions and encourages subscription for ongoing market deep‑dives.

Chapters

This week, the apartment industry got a wave of good news. Vacancy is falling. Absorption nearly doubled. One major firm said multifamily is positioned for its strongest rent recovery since 2022. And if you own a stabilized building, you are probably looking at those headlines and thinking, that is not what my leasing office is telling me. You are not wrong. A number buried in this week's data explains the gap, and almost nobody is talking about it. I'm Shafiq Hirani, MBA, CCIM, and this is an Apartment Navigator midweek deep dive. If these breakdowns help you cut through the noise, subscribe and drop a comment with what leasing actually looks like in your market right now. Let's get into it. Here is what came out this week. CoStar reported that US apartments absorbed 163,739 units in the second quarter, comfortably outpacing the 118,047 units delivered. Overall vacancy fell 26 basis points from the prior quarter to 8.15%. CBRE reported net absorption of 167,500 units, nearly double the first quarter, with vacancy down 50 basis points to 4.3%. New deliveries fell 14% year-over-year, Their head of multifamily capital markets said the supply wave is cresting and multifamily is positioned for its strongest rent recovery since 2022. You may notice those vacancy numbers are very different, 8.15% versus 4.3%. That is because the 2 firms track different property samples. What matters is that both point the same direction. Demand is strong and supply is slowing.