A surge of multifamily development is underway in the Greater Des Moines area with more than 3,000 units currently being built and construction of an additional 4,800 units planned to start over the next three years, a new market report from CBRE Inc. shows.

The addition of over 6,000 multifamily units to the metro area will likely create competition for renters with owners of new developments offering lease concessions of one or two months, the report said. Cy Fox, executive vice president of CBRE, which has an office in West Des Moines, predicted it will take a year or so for the market to absorb the new units.

“Once we’re over that supply cliff we will move closer to our normal 95% occupancy [or 5% vacancy] in 2027 or 2028,” Fox said.

The multifamily vacancy rate was 7.3% at the end of 2025, up from 5.3% in 2024, according to the report. Waukee had the area’s highest vacancy rate at 8.8% followed closely by the central business district (8.5%) and city of Des Moines (8.2%).

Nearly 1,690 new apartment units were completed in 2025, just over 25% fewer than the 2,276 delivered in 2024, the CBRE report shows. Nearly 50% of the units delivered in 2025 were in the western suburbs and another 24% were in Ankeny. Projects currently under construction are being built in the western suburbs, central business district, Grimes and Ankeny.

“There’s not one submarket that is getting the bulk of the new supply,” Fox said.

Construction of 20 new multifamily developments with a total of 4,800 units is expected to start yet this year through 2028, the report said. More than 2,330 of the units, or 49%, are planned in the western suburbs; 768 units (16%) are planned in downtown Des Moines; 540 (11%) in Ankeny; and the remaining in Norwalk, Pleasant Hill, Polk City and the south part of Des Moines.

Completion of the current multifamily developments under construction and the proposed new projects would boost the number of units in the metro area by 14.5%, from 54,599 to 62,496.

Multifamily property investors are continuing to take notice of the Des Moines area, Fox said. In 2025, the multifamily investment sales volume reached a record $518 million, a 71% increase from 2024 when it was $302 million.

Avenue Living, an Alberta, Canada-based owner and operator of residential rental properties, acquired 11 multifamily properties in Polk and Dallas counties in 2025, spending over $247.2 million for them, county real estate records show.

“The Midwest is steady-Eddy,” Fox said. “We don’t see the big swings in rent growth or new supplies that you see happening in larger markets. … We’ve had some of the largest owners [of multifamily properties] in the country looking and bidding on portfolios this past year. Why? Because we’ve got good schools, short commute times, a growing population.

“Des Moines has a lot to offer these groups that are looking to invest in a steady environment.”

More online: To read CBRE Inc.’s 2025 multifamily market report, click here.