DMV has more private equity-owned apartments than most metros
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The D.C. area has one of the highest numbers of private equity-owned apartments out of all the country's metros, says a new report.
The big picture: Private equity firms have started to purchase more apartments nationwide in recent years, per the report authored by watchdog nonprofit Private Equity Stakeholder Project.
- In communities where investment companies own a significant share of housing, residents have often seen lower affordability, "large rent hikes," and "aggressive evictions," the report says.
By the numbers: The DMV has the fourth-highest number of properties and apartment units owned by private equity of all the country's metros.
- It has 277 such properties, totalling 92,722 units, per the report.
It's not just the D.C. region that's affected by this trend: 13.4% of Virginia's apartment units are owned by such firms, says the report — the ninth highest of all 50 states. (Maryland comes in at 8.1%.)
State of play: Beyond rent hikes and evictions, tenants at private equity-owned properties say they've had issues with "hidden fees, poor maintenance and repairs," and "lack of responsiveness to tenant concerns," states the report.
- The D.C. Council recently introduced a piece of legislation to combat hidden utility fees for apartment common spaces, a practice that local renters say has led to them paying much higher housing costs than originally expected.
- D.C. councilmember Charles Allen, who co-introduced the bill, told Axios last year he considers the practice "predatory" and likens it to a consumer protection issue like junk fees.
Zoom out: The largest concentration of private equity-owned properties is in the Sunbelt area, which has also seen some of the highest jumps in the number of tenants who are "cost-burdened" — in other words, they spend 30% or more of their income on rent, says the report.
- Dallas clocks in with the most private equity-owned properties among U.S. metros, with Atlanta and Houston following.
Between the lines: The District has also struggled with affordability amid high rents: Out of the D.C. households that rent, an estimated 39.9% of them are "cost burdened," per Census Bureau data shared with Axios.
- And an estimated 21.6% are severely cost-burdened, meaning they spend 50% or more of their income on housing costs.
- Yes, but: D.C. has fewer cost-burdened people than the national average, which sits at 49.7%, per census data.
Meanwhile, a Washington Post report last year found that the DMV wasn't building enough housing to keep up with its growth.
- And while Mayor Muriel Bowser has already exceeded her goal set in 2019 of building 36,000 new housing units by this year, the District is only 88% of the way toward its goal of building 12,000 new affordable housing units, per a city tracker.