Get Ready, Suburbia: Apartments Are Coming

Half of apartments built in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area this year will be in the suburbs—a share that will rise to three-quarters in 2019. And the Twin Cities region isn't alone: Suburbs around the country are experiencing a boom in apartment development.

Alan Greenblatt reports in Governing that new apartments outside city centers are locating near freeways and light rail lines, often in converted office parks and retail centers. While high-rises are certainly part of the trend, much of the new construction is on the smaller end of multi-family, ranging from townhouses to five-story buildings.

Suburban communities have traditionally resisted apartment construction—and in many places, that still holds true. But the new development is also welcomed by a growing segment of the population looking for multi-family rental options outside of major cities.

Households are getting smaller, with single-member households growing fastest of all. At the same time, not everyone can afford to live in a center city, where costs have risen sharply over the past decade. Add these factors together and the result is lots of new apartments going up in suburbs.