Yardi Matrix assesses affordable housing competitiveness in U.S. metros

New report analyzes correlation between market rate and affordable unit availability

SANTA BARBARA, CALIF., Sept. 4, 2025 – As housing costs increasingly burden U.S. households, a new Yardi® Matrix national report provides insight into how the proportion of market rate and affordable properties affects housing options in major metros.

Properties are considered competitive when rents for either market rate or “fully affordable” housing (where at least 90% of units have income restrictions tied to subsidies) do not exceed 30% of gross income among households with similar earnings. The Matrix report found that one-third of the top 30 U.S. metros are highly competitive, with at least 50% of conventional units competing with fully affordable housing. Another one-third of the metros were moderately competitive, while less than 25% of units in the remaining third were competitive.

“Competitiveness is important because it correlates to demand for affordable housing,” the report says, at a time that an increasing number of renter households spend more than 30% of income on rents even as housing construction, financing and regulatory costs grow.

Metros where average advertised rents exceed $3,500, such as New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles, have few market rate properties competing with affordable housing. Meanwhile, metros with average rents below $1,500, such as Las Vegas, Columbus, Ohio, and Houston, show moderate to high levels of competitiveness.

The report also finds that markets with high annual apartment deliveries, including Austin, Texas, and Dallas, exhibit greater competitiveness of market rates with fully affordable properties than cities such as New York, Los Angeles and San Diego that trail the national average in deliveries as a percentage of stock. And metros like Miami that have a larger percentage of apartment stock built over the past 10 to 20 years tend to have a higher proportion of luxury market rate apartments that are not competitive with affordable units.

Get in depth analysis of the interplay between market rate and affordable housing rents in the Yardi Matrix National Affordable Housing Report for September 2025.

Yardi Matrix offers the industry’s most comprehensive market intelligence tool for investment professionals, equity investors, lenders and property managers who underwrite and manage investments in commercial real estate. Yardi Matrix covers multifamily, single-family rentals/ build to rent, affordable housing, student housing, self storage, office, industrial, retail and vacant land property types. Email [email protected], call (480) 663-1149 or visit yardimatrix.com to learn more.

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