Smallest units continue to shrink in DC

The years of recovery following the Great Recession have brought a boom in apartment development to the District of Columbia.  One of the most notable trends to emerge in this cycle has been a shift in how multifamily developers are utilizing the available space in their projects.  Evaluating unit sizes in new buildings, the average Studio unit delivered in 2015 was 514 square feet — 15.0% smaller than in 2009.  The average new one bedroom unit (including units with 1.5 baths, but excluding those with a den or loft), saw a 17.5% decrease in square footage over the same timeframe.  The average new one bedroom unit in 2015 (628 SF) is nearly the same size as the average new Studio unit was in 2009 (605 SF).

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Although the floor plans are shrinking, these smaller unit types as a whole are increasingly dominating the unit mixes of new apartment buildings.  Studio and one bedroom units made up 59.7% of the units delivered in the District from 2009-2012 but have increased to 72.2% of the units delivered in the District since 2013. Smaller unit types consistently achieve the highest rents per square foot — a boon for building owners, but also catering to preferences of the growing Millennial cohort in the city.  It remains to be seen whether the emergence of micro-unit and co-living concepts that push the idea of small living spaces to the extreme will intensify the trend toward smaller units, or increase pressure to differentiate by maintaining or increasing the size of units in future buildings.

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