Apartment sizes are shrinking nationally, a reversal in the rental market that saw units get bigger early in the work-from-home era.

New apartments in 2022 measured 887 square feet on average, a 30-square-foot drop from a year earlier, per a new report from listing service RentCafe.

That sharp decrease was fueled in part by more studios and one-bedroom apartments entering the market, researchers found.

Nationwide, newly built apartments shed 54 square feet on average since 2013, per the report.

The Seattle area posted the smallest newer apartments at 659 square feet, 26% smaller than the national average.

The report analyzed the 100 U.S. metro areas with the most high-density units.

In 2020 and 2021, demand for more space resulted in larger unit configurations, RentCafe analyst Adina Dragos tells Axios.

"Fast forward to 2022, the demand for more apartments prompted developers to accommodate more units in their projects," Dragos says.

Case in point: 57% of apartments completed last year were small units.

Apartments under construction. As the market keeps fluctuating post-pandemic, their size could signal whether the trend of less spacious rentals will stick. (Source: Axios)

Story Date: March 19, 2023