Page 25 - Guardian Broker Questionnaire Summary Complete Package 2 2 22_Neat

DEMAND
the country, Richmond ranked fourth nationally as of 22Q1 for multifamily demand as a share of inventory, only 4 th NATIONALLY FOR
Demand for apartments in the Richmond market has exceeded 900 units since the beginning of 2020. That had
only occurred in two total quarters from 2010 through 2019. As a result, among the 50 largest markets throughout
MULTIFAMILY DEMAND
trailing Salt Lake City, Jacksonville, and Charlotte.

CORPORATE RELOCATIONS
Driving demand for apartments in Richmond, both prior to and during the pandemic, has been the combination of
affordability and job gains. That has been evidenced by three announced corporate relocations since June 2020, RECENT
as ASGN, Inc., Babylon Micro-Farms, and Vytal Studios have all committed to setting up operations in Richmond. 3 CORPORATE RELOCATONS
Those companies have opted to leave Los Angeles, Charlottesville, and Austin, respectively.

UNPRECEDENTED VACANCY COMPRESSION
As Richmond’s vacancy rates continue to compress to historic lows, multifamily demand continues to soar in the
Metro. Absorption reached a ten year high in 2021, totaling 4.5k units of positive net absorption over the four UNITS OF POSITIVE NET
quarters combined, 800 units more than the previous high of 3.7k in 2020. In conjunction with the heightened
levels of demand that have taken place across the five submarkets within Richmond’s city limits, vacancy in the 4.5K ABSORBTION
Sauer’s Gardens Submarket has fallen by 40 basis points over the past 12 months.

HISTORIC RENT GROWTH
Spurred by above-average levels of demand, asking rents grew at a faster pace in 2021 than in any of the prior
ten years. In fact, asking rents grew by 11.1%, which placed Richmond fourth among all major markets nationally th NATIONALLY FOR
for rent gains last year. Asking rent gains haven’t displayed any signs of slowing thus far in 2022 either, as the first 4 RENT GAINS
quarter marked the loftiest four-quarter trailing rate of growth that Richmond has observed in the past 20 years.
That further spoke to the consistent flow of demand that the market has seen, particularly as communities continue
to open their doors all throughout the metro.

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