Adaptive Reuse Projects Surpass Pre-Pandemic Numbers to Reach All-Time High

The rise of remote work in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic led to an uptick in adaptive reuse apartments after a large share of office buildings were left unoccupied. Conversions from office buildings to apartments are at an all-time high after a 25% increase in adaptive reuse projects, which added a total of 28,000 new rentals from 2020 to 2021.

As a growing share of would-be buyers back out of home purchases and instead send demand soaring in the rental sector, developers are repurposing office spaces to boost supply. According to RentCafe, 77,000 apartments are currently under conversion, signaling an adaptive reuse boom in the years ahead.

In the last two years, apartment conversions jumped by 25% compared to two years prior. More precisely, this increasingly popular real estate niche brought a total of 28,000 new rentals in 2020-2021, well above the pre-pandemic years of 2018-2019 when 22,300 apartments were brought to life through adaptive reuse. Amid an ever-growing need for housing, adaptive reuse picked up speed in America’s largest cities, according to the latest data from Yardi Matrix.

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