Hartford? Pay Attention. 

It never seems to get much attention, but Hartford, Conn., ranks among the nation’s better-performing apartment markets right now, according to Greg Willett, MPF Research, a division of RealPage Inc. Local occupancy stands well above the U.S. norm, and the metro’s rent growth pace also comes in at a premium level.

Occupancy registered at 97.1 percent in Q3 2011. That rate was up a notable 1.1 percentage points on a quarterly basis, taking annual improvement to 1.6 points. Occupancy reaches above 96 percent in every single product age niche as well as every single neighborhood. Very tight occupancy in the range of 96 percent to 97 percent is fairly new to one area of the metro, as the urban core/downtown zone previously had posted occupancy hovering around 93 percent to 94 percent.

Hartford’s quarterly rent growth volume during the July-September time frame proved mediocre at 0.3 percent. But thanks to increases seen earlier in the year, the annual rate of increase was robust. Between fall 2010 and fall 2011, effective rents for new leases jumped 5.1 percent. Annual rent growth downtown now tops 7 percent, compared to annual change that was in slight negative territory at the start of 2011.

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