Q1 2026 MULTIFAMILY MARKET UPDATE
- Colliers | Columbus
- a few seconds ago
- 3 min read
Written by: Jake Lord
Jake specializes in research capabilities, providing support for the Colliers Columbus Office, Industrial, and Retail groups. He is responsible for executing data reports, maintaining a commercial property database, reporting quarterly trends, performing data analysis, and utilizing statistical information to predict future behavior in the market. Keep reading for his insights on the Columbus multifamily market in Q1 2026.
Key Takeaways
Year-over-year rent growth remains positive at 0.37% with cautiously optimistic hopes of acceleration as new starts slowdown drastically.
2025 Census data shows Columbus Metro added over 21,000 residents, doubling national growth trends.
Workforce Housing continues to outperform discretionary product with modest rent growth and stable occupancies.Â
New units under construction, finishing construction or in-lease up total an approximate 8.05% of total market-rate inventory. Only 2.03% of total market-rate inventory is actively under construction.
Updated construction data shows expected 2026 starts to drop by an estimated 55% compared to 2025. North Columbus remains the most active submarket.
Over 68% of new properties delivered since 2023 are explicitly offering concessions.
Q1 2026 sales activity was robust with many Q4 2025 deals rolling over and notable pricing outcomes achieved.
Regional Summary
The Columbus multifamily market remains of heightened interest for capital deployment and expansion, but two years of record deliveries continues to exert downward pressure on rent growth and economic vacancy. Updated 2025 census data reported that the Columbus MSA grew by over 21,000 (1.0%) residents, doubling the national average of 0.50% and making it one of the fastest growing U.S. Metros. Natural growth accounted for 35% of the metro’s population increase, while international migration represented 51% of total migration, reinforcing the market’s role as a global gateway. The Columbus MSA unemployment rate reached 4.1%, an increase from 3.6% from Q4 2025. Preliminary March 2026 numbers read Mining, Logging and Construction lead employment growth with a 5.2% 12-month change in total salaried employment and Education and Health Services (1.9%) as the second-place driver of employment growth. Otherwise, employment growth has remained mostly flat across all other sectors. Excitingly, recent stock price movements with Intel, driven by their newly applauded chip design and a multitude of partnership announcements, has provided positive reassurance about their Ohio One Fab and further propelled capital markets interest in Central Ohio. Year-over-year rent growth through the first quarter was reported as 0.37%, a marginal decline from Q4 2025’s reading of 0.44%. Positively, Columbus market rent growth hasn’t turned negative and continues to temperedly absorb consecutive years of record deliveries in 2025 and 2026. Meanwhile, Yardi Matrix recently reported 33 months of consecutive declines in advertised multifamily rents nationally. An estimated 9,668 units were delivered to the market in 2025 and 2026 is expected to deliver another 9,160 units. However, the market is expected to see construction starts plummet to 55.27% of 2025 levels. Only 2.03% of total market-rate inventory is actively under construction, providing a strong foundation for expectations of rent growth acceleration and concessions to be transitory. New market-rate multifamily construction continues to remain highly concentrated in the suburbs, while the urban supply pipeline continues to wane.Â
Under Construction
The Columbus MSA remains a very active market-rate multifamily development market that is widely dominated by private capital and local developers. Since 2010, Columbus has developed an approximate 73,500 market-rate units, an estimated 35.67% of it’s total inventory today. Columbus, compared to national trends, persistently developed new market-rate multifamily projects through the prolonged elevated interest rate environment. When short-term rates were cut by the Federal Reserve, the development market gained significant momentum. In 2025, the market delivered 9,668 market-rate units while an additional 9,738 market-rate units broke ground. The market is expecting to experience 9,160 units being delivered through 2026, but a sharp decline in overall construction starts. Construction starts in 2026 are expected to drop by over 55% to just 4,355 units, however these estimates can change imminently with Columbus’ emphasis on expeditious zoning outcomes. The latest wave of supply has led the market to experience discretionary rents declining, or remaining stagnant, but as the 12,420 units (6.02% of total inventory) considered to be in lease-up, in various stages, we should expect a meaningful step forward to resuming rent growth. Actively there is only 4,182 units (2.03% of supply) under construction. North Columbus, inclusive of Sunbury, Delaware and Marysville, has been the most active development submarket in Columbus since 2024, increasing its totally inventory by 99.13% and comprising of 14.77% of the total development pipeline. Downtown and Hilliard submarkets , driven predominantly by the Trabue Road corridor, are considered the second and third most active submarkets with 12.52% and 12.27% shares of the total development pipeline, respectively.
Check out the full Q1 2026 Multifamily Trends report here!