Philly No. 1 in Northeast for New Downtown Apartments

By Hope Walborn
June 18, 2025
2 min.

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Philadelphia ranks no. 9 among the 50 largest U.S. cities for new downtown apartments as of January 2025, according to a report by RentCafe. Outpacing most major cities, the city has also seen more new downtown apartments than any other major city in the Northeast.

Over the past five years, 8,271 new apartments have been added to downtown Philly, significantly exceeding other Northeast locations like Boston (3,928 units) and Manhattan (1,982 units).

Of those new apartments, 58.3% are located downtown. Additionally, so far this decade, 16.2% of downtown Philly units have been added through adaptive reuse, making the city one of the nation’s leaders in conversions.

What makes Philly special?

“Philadelphia is the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection,” says Annette Collier, president of the Greater Philadelphia Association of Realtors®. She also serves on a task force overseeing Mayor Cherelle Parker’s Housing Opportunities Made Easy initiative.

“Our city has a lot of attractions and is also the 6th largest city in America, with historical sites such as the Liberty Bell, Independence Mall – America’s birthplace – and Fairmount Park, which is one of the world’s largest parks. Philadelphia is known for its tourism, major universities, such as the University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University and Temple University, and more affordable housing with our sales prices lower than most other metropolitan areas, which makes us desirable. People are able to travel to New York, Washington, D.C., and New Jersey via our major transit, including Amtrak.”

Collier notes that Philly is made up of 48% renters, and it is working on increasing homeownership rates and bringing in more businesses.

In comparison, nationwide, downtown apartments accounted for 34.7% of new apartments built in 2020-2024. The top five cities for downtown apartment construction during that period were: