Job growth in Greater Boston is fueling $288 million in apartment construction, according to a new study.
Thomas Grillo
Real Estate Editor- Boston Business Journal
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Greater Boston is experiencing its strongest job growth in three years, fueling $288 million in apartment construction for downtowns and the suburbs, according to a new study.
The survey, conducted by the National Apartment Association and the National Multi Housing Council, found that despite the worst economy in a generation, apartments have remained a positive economic force, contributing to the nation’s economic recovery with every dollar spent by the businesses that build and operate apartments and renters.
Titled “The Trillion Dollar Apartment Industry,” the survey found the combined U.S. spending by the apartment industry in 2011 and its 35 million residents generated an economic contribution of $1.1 trillion to the national economy and supported 25.4 million jobs. In the Metro Boston area, more than 3,600 jobs have been created to meet demand, and deliver new units that will begin to address what’s been a severe shortage of new apartment supply, researchers found. High demand is also creating opportunities to transform the suburbs near public transit, the study said.
Nationwide, the apartment industry spent $14.8 billion on construction in 2011, and this was a year with one of the lowest multifamily completions on record, just 130,000 new units. The average pre-recession was around 270,000 completions. The industry spent $67.9 billion in 2011 to operate and improve the country’s 19.3 million apartments, more than four times the amount spent on construction and creating a $182.6 billion economic contribution supporting 2.3 million total jobs.
The country’s 35 million apartment residents spent $421.5 billion on goods and services in 2011 and 70 percent of which stayed within the local economy. The spending created a total economic impact of $885.2 billion supporting 22.8 million jobs nationwide.
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