Hartford is poised to have 6,642 apartments by 2028, an increase of 2,663 from 2019. That number amounts to the twentieth-largest increase in metro areas across the country according to a recent RentCafe analysis of Yardi Matrix data.
But despite that, Connecticut’s overall number of available apartments for 2024 lags behind the rest of the nation. According to RentCafe, there are 518,108 apartments slated to be constructed in the United States by the end of the year. But just 3,173 of those will be located in Connecticut.
The majority of new apartments will be located in Hartford and New Haven. Hartford is expected to add 1,155 units and New Haven is expected to add 990. In addition, Bridgeport is expected to add 680 new units and Norwich, which RentCafe describes as an outlier for the current year’s data, will add 350 units.
New Haven leads the state in new apartment construction. The city is expected to build 580 new rentals by the end of the year and construction is expected to increase 32 percent between 2023 and 2028, leading to the completion of 500 more apartments than were constructed between 2019 and 2023.
Hartford is also expected to increase construction of apartments by 20 percent by 2028. Between 2019 and 2023, the city added 3,980 apartments. By 2028 it is slated to add an additional 2,663 units. This increase is the 20th biggest in the nation.
By contrast, New York City leads the list, with an expected additional 34,120 units to be added by 2028.
Construction in Bridgeport is also expected to increase by 14 percent. Construction in Norwich is expected to increase by 78 percent.
While the Yardi Matrix data is mostly focused on new construction, a recent study commissioned by the Western Connecticut Council of Governments noted that converting existing buildings, including commercial stock, into housing units could help alleviate the state’s housing issues. The study recommended the state focus on high-density rentals, with a focus on affordable housing, to help expand housing in the state at a lesser cost. It also suggested converting single-family homes into multi-family units could help add housing while keeping costs low.
A RentCafe study from May of this year found that Hartford is a leading metro area for repurposing existing buildings into housing units, coming in eighteenth.
There have also been recent multiple attempts by various Connecticut government actors to address the state’s housing issues that have ended without action. In July, a project advisory committee that was supposed to work with a state contractor to determine the “fair share” of affordable housing for each municipality was canceled by the Office of Policy and Management.
During this year’s legislative session, a bill that would have made it easier for developers to convert commercial buildings into housing units also failed to make it to final passage.
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