vacancy rates in greater KCMO

[Ryan Fox]

It's hard to come by unbiased data on this, but does anyone have any access to data showing rental vacancy rates in MO, per county?  I know there's been growth of housing supply in the KC area.  There's also a lot of units on the market for rent now, seemingly more than prior years, even considering it's the middle of winter.  Year over year comparisons would be helpful.  

[William Robison]

Hello @Logan Freeman and @Ryan Fox

Kansas City has added a lot of rental inventory over the last couple of years. Its important to note that MFH housing adds and SFR housing adds have been quite different. Multiple funds added hundreds of SFRs to the mix each, per year for the last couple of years. Inventory of MFH saw a significant boost for the last several years and during the MFH boom in KC, we were adding double the historical absorption rate, but leasing maintained close pace.

Seasonality is more important than property type, location, rate, or nearly any other factor.  March 1 through Thanksgiving is optimal leasing time, with April through June the most ideal.  Since there continues to be more inventory than current demand, its important to keep track of other analysis.  

Zillow reported a couple of months ago that KC was witnessing about a 1-2% rent rate retraction.  This is nominal overall, but could hedge a trend.  Conversely however, most of the funds have stopped acquisitions, and as inventory is absorbed, I believe we will be able to maintain flat rates with the economic pressure.

Lastly, inventory, since that was the question.  Actually, vacancy.  

Here is an article in the KCStar that identifies vacancy per market in the KC area.  This is a very recent article at the end of 2018.  Location is an important consideration, as it will have a lot to do with the inventory additions of the last couple of years.  Downtown has seen the most growth in terms of units of MFH built, and currently a higher vacancy rate.  

Summary...I dont have access to specific data points, especially per county.  However, 2018 was a huge year for fund growth, which added more inventory than was absorbed.  2019 should flush out this inventory, as most, but not all, funds have ceased acquisitions.  Professionally, for our company, we expect to be at normalized levels by the end of Q1 2019.