PRICED OUT OF THE GOOD LIFE
For the first time, more apartments than houses are being built in Omaha
The market swing over the past four years signifies growth — but also how unaffordable homeownership has become for potential buyers.
Construction crews work on the Tallgrass Apartments in Papillion. In the past four years, more multi-family housing units — almost all of them apartments — have been built than single-family homes in the Omaha metro. Photo by Lily Smith/Flatwater Free Press
When Maddie Hall flips through Zillow listings on her phone and sees what houses sell for these days, she thinks home ownership just isn’t financially possible.
The 29-year-old event planner also worries about being tied down by a mortgage when staying mobile and flexible could help her advance in her career.
So for now, she will stick with the convenience of her midtown Omaha apartment and her easy ability to walk to favorite neighborhood restaurants and hangouts.
“I think an apartment makes the most sense for me,” Hall said.
Fueled by the experiences and thinking of people like Hall, Omaha is in the midst of its biggest apartment-building boom in generations — perhaps ever. To local housing experts, it’s an indicator of both sickness and strength within Omaha’s wider housing market.
As single-family home building has languished and pushed prices for new and existing homes beyond the means of many would-be buyers, apartments now appear to be picking up the slack.
In the past four years, more multifamily housing units — almost all apartments for rent — have been built than single-family homes. That’s a staggering change from a decade ago, when twice as many houses as apartments were going up.
Two decades ago, the ratio was five houses for every one apartment or other multifamily unit.
“The cost of buying a home is now out of reach for many young people,” said Mike Riedmann, president emeritus of N.P. Dodge Real Estate. “So they have to stay in apartments.”
Riedmann, housing advocates and experts believe that thousands of Omahans would prefer owning a house but instead continue to rent due to the lack of affordable options. And they miss out on the home ownership that for generations has been the primary means for middle-income families to build wealth.
Shannon Harner, executive director of the Nebraska Investment Finance Authority, sees danger in millennials and Gen Z becoming generations of renters — adding urgency to the need to solve the state’s housing affordability crisis.
“A house is still a pretty solid investment,” Harner said. “It meets a basic need and creates wealth at the same time.”
The apartment-building boom can be seen both in Omaha’s urban core, where it’s revitalizing older neighborhoods, and in suburban communities, where apartments were historically shunned.
It’s also producing both subsidized units for low-income families as well as luxury apartments loaded with amenities to lure young professionals. Construction of townhomes — often called the “missing middle” housing between apartments and single homes — is also on the rise.
ABOUT THIS SERIES
Priced out of The Good Life
Year after year, The Good Life is becoming less attainable for Nebraskans.
Paychecks can’t keep up with home prices. It’s pricing out young Nebraskans who dream of becoming homeowners. It’s leading to apartments outpacing single-family homes in Omaha’s construction scene and skyrocketing home prices in Lincoln. It’s forcing bidding wars in the smallest of towns and pushing communities to try out new solutions like down payment assistance.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll examine the realities and barriers to homeownership across the state.
Any new housing unit, whether an apartment or single-family home, helps to address Omaha’s housing affordability crisis, housing advocates say, boosting the housing supply and helping to bring down home prices and rents.
So until house prices and incomes get back in balance in the metro, apartments will continue to fill in the gap. Thousands of apartments have been added in recent years, and yet vacancy rates remain low.
“They come on line, and they fill up,” said David Fanslau, Omaha’s city planning director. “The market will let us know when we have built enough.”
***
The roots of Omaha’s apartment boom go back almost two decades, to the Great Recession and the financial failure of one of Omaha’s biggest homebuilders.
In 2012, HearthStone Homes filed for bankruptcy. HearthStone’s sweet spot had been building homes for under $200,000 that appealed to first-time homebuyers. Some smaller builders also exited the market. Not enough builders stepped up to replace them.
Single-family homebuilding in the metro nosedived from 5,000 new houses in 2005 down to fewer than 2,000 in 2011, and it has remained sluggish ever since. Over time, that amounted to tens of thousands of lost homes.
That huge hit to the housing supply came just as millennials — now the nation’s biggest generation — entered their prime years for raising families. That created a massive housing shortage.
“We’re still digging out of that hole,” Harner said.
With big demand and slack supply, the prices of both new and existing homes were bid up at an historic pace. A Flatwater analysis of Zillow data shows the median sale price of a home in the Omaha metro more than doubled in just over a decade, from about $150,000 in 2013 to over $310,000 in 2025.
That included three consecutive double-digit increases from 2020 to 2022, when the cost of an Omaha home rose by a third in just three short years.
“Housing affordability for ownership has really been crushed with cost escalation and interest rates,” said Jake Hoppe, CEO of a Lincoln-based housing developer. “The affordability gap is pretty large. Apartments are a lot cheaper.”
Omaha’s housing construction market ultimately responded to the demand for more housing — not with stepped-up single-family home construction, but with apartments.
According to a Flatwater analysis of Greater Omaha Chamber data, construction permits for multifamily units in the metro jumped nearly 60% in 2022. For the first time in recent history, they exceeded permits for single-family houses, which declined by 20% that same year.
The roughly 3,500 multifamily units, mostly apartments, permitted in the metro in both 2022 and 2024 were the most seen in federal data that dates back to 1988.
“The law of supply and demand is as true as the law of gravity,” said Scott Dobbe, president of GreenSlate Development Partners. “Apartments are the part of the market that is best able to respond.”
Between 2022 to 2025, there were 12,600 multifamily units started in the metro compared to 10,900 single-family homes, chamber figures show, signaling a fundamental shift in the housing market.
That shift is also happening nationally — two years ago, apartment construction hit its highest level since the 1970s. Nationally, though, single-family homes have continued to outpace apartments.
The apartment building boom has helped Omaha add housing at a much faster pace than the nation as a whole, a Flatwater analysis found. Over the last five years, Omaha added single-family homes at about 10% over the national rate, but its construction of multi units exceeded the U.S. rate by nearly 70%.
And while nationally the apartment-building boom appears to be over, Omaha has yet to show much sign of a letup.
Omaha is currently on pace for another 3,500 new multi units this year, again slightly outpacing single-family homes.
The evidence is plain to the naked eye: Drive around Omaha, and you’ll see new apartment buildings going up across the city.
***
Earlier this month, 8-year-old Sylas Golden held an oversized pair of scissors and snipped a red ribbon stretched across the doorway of his family’s new townhome in Papillion.
The family of five was among the first to move into the new Tallgrass Apartments, a 600-unit community of apartments and townhomes rising near 72nd Street and Capehart Road.
“We want people to feel like they are in a home and not just another rental space,” said Danielle Frye, property manager of Tallgrass.
The family’s new rental unit features four bedrooms. That’s rare in a market mostly churning out 1- and 2-bedroom apartments. It’s also a reflection of the shortage of affordable single-family homes.
Tallgrass is also an example of nonprofits working with developers to bring more affordable housing online. Hoppe’s development company partnered with Omaha’s Front Porch Investments to create the new suburban neighborhood that includes market-rate rental units, subsidized rentals for lower-income families and townhomes for sale. The vast majority of the 3,200 new housing units Front Porch has committed to help deliver in the metro have been apartments.
Local development policy is also spurring new apartment development.
In an effort to create an urban core that feels vibrant to both employers and employees, Omaha has used tax increment financing for subsidized and market-rate apartments. One of the chief reasons city officials pushed to build the streetcar was to create more dense development in the inner core.
In midtown’s Blackstone, Little Bohemia just south of downtown and the Leavenworth Street corridor west of downtown, apartment development is helping to create vibrant, walkable neighborhoods, Fanslau said. On Leavenworth alone between 27th and 50th, there are three new apartment complexes currently rising.
“It’s density, density, density in downtown, and (developers) have taken advantage of it,” Fanslau said. “I don’t think that’s going to stop anytime soon, especially with the streetcar coming online.”
Dobbe noted a regional housing study in 2019 found a mismatch between what was being built and what most people said they wanted. While most new housing in Omaha was single-family homes in the suburbs, people were calling for homes in more walkable and urban neighborhoods.
The market seems to be correcting that mismatch. And even if that kind of urban living doesn’t “float your boat,” Dobbe said, everyone benefits if that housing helps Omaha compete for workers and jobs.
To draw in young renters, many of the new urban complexes are going all out with amenities. At Oxworth Apartments at 27th and Leavenworth, developer Tom McLeay reeled off a dizzying array: A pool. Outdoor firepits. Outdoor TV. Dog park. Coffee bar, clubhouse and bar. Exercise facility. Sauna. Game room. Office space for working from home. Even a dog wash.
“If your choice is this or a house that might be a bit older housing stock, which one do you pick?” McLeay said. “I think for young people, for quite a few years, this is what they’re picking.”
The city has also made zoning changes in west Omaha to encourage new apartments. Hoppe said suburbs that previously frowned upon new apartment development now seem more open, too.
Where once a developer might be told, “We don’t want apartments here,” Hoppe said, now they are hearing, “What are you doing in this new development to create affordable housing?”
The reason for the new attitude?
“Now people are finding their kids can’t find a place to live,” Hoppe said.
Besides the lack of affordability for houses, developers cite changing lifestyles as a definite driver in Omaha’s apartment boom.
Younger people today are putting off getting married and having kids longer than past generations. Where the average age of a first-time homebuyer three decades ago was 28 or 29, it recently hit 40, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Todd Heistand, a developer known for converting former downtown office buildings into apartments, says he frequently hears young people say they rent because they don’t want to be tied down professionally.
Developers say renters today are also less likely than previous generations to have roommates, requiring construction of more single-bedroom units. McLeay said of his 194 new apartments at 27th and Leavenworth, only about a dozen are two-bedroom.
“We are building a lot more one-bedrooms, and they’re filling up,” Heistand said.
Housing experts say Omaha’s apartment development has likely helped ease home price inflation from the highs seen three or four years ago. Zillow data suggests prices for metro single-family homes in the metro increased less than 2% in 2025, compared to the recent high of over 10% in 2022. It also has helped slow rent increases.
Harner hopes all the new apartments will further slow price escalation and serve as a bridge for many young people until they can afford a home.
Apartment living will remain the housing of choice for Hall, the Omaha event planner. Hall loves being outdoors, and would love a house with a yard. But for now, she would take an upgraded apartment with a balcony and pool.
As for buying a house, Hall will see what the future market holds. When she recently learned how low her parents’ monthly mortgage payments and interest rates were, she said she almost fell over. She could never find anything so affordable today.
The 30-year mortgage was created with the idea that people would have their homes paid off by the time they retire, she said. But if she can’t get into a house until she’s 40, how much sense does that make?
“Things are so different from what we’ve been told for so long and the reality today,” she said.
Priced out of The Good Life
Year after year, The Good Life is becoming less attainable for Nebraskans. Paychecks can’t keep up with home prices. It’s pricing out young Nebraskans who dream of becoming homeowners.
It’s leading to apartments outpacing single-family homes in Omaha’s construction scene and skyrocketing home prices in Lincoln. It’s forcing bidding wars in the smallest of towns and pushing communities to try out new solutions like down payment assistance. Our series, “Priced out of The Good Life”, examines the realities and barriers to homeownership across the state.
More in this series
14 Comments
Welcome to another Flatwater article. Naturally it begins with a personal anecdote. Twenty-nine year old single woman decides to live in an apartment because she can’t yet afford a house and she really likes living in an apartment near a bar.
Shocking, right?
I’ve said it in previous articles Flatwater has written about this topic and I’ll say it again: The free market economy produces products people want to buy. When people want to buy apartments rather than houses, the market will supply apartments. And Millennials and Gen-Z have given up on marriage, family and the more classic interpretation of the American dream, to instead remain single, focus on their career and spend their income on short term gratification rather than long-term gains. So guess what? Apartments it is.
The one ray of hope on the horizon, which Flatwater once again neglects to mention, is that when the Baby Boomer generation finally exits the scene, they will vacate their houses and free some of them up for younger generations to live in. Families that are able to grab up those homes may still have a shot at the classic American dream. But a lot of us are going to miss that lifeboat.
This article is like a Seinfeld episode. The writers thought we would relate to the characters, but the actual moral lesson is that inner-city hipsterism has life altering consequences. You may not have your ex-girlfriend hilariously testify against you at your trial, but you will one day regret turning 40 and having nothing to show for it other than avocado toast.
We don’t live in a free market economy. The U.S. market is heavily regulated by federal and state administrative agencies. I’ve noticed that, despite your disdain for anecdotal framing, you yourself often employ almost exclusively your own personal anecdotes and feelings to justify broad generalizations or oversimplification. By using this rhetorical strategy, you undercut those of us with similar viewpoints but a better understanding of the subject matter. I would encourage those who bother to read the comment section to use these articles as a jumping-off point (as they do provide good research and information) and then continue to do your own research on the topic to better understand the nuances. Don’t just go off of gut reactions and personal anecdotes like “You’ll Regret It Someday” does. There are actual valid alternative viewpoints or opinions out there that are worth genuinely engaging with, whatever ideological position you hold.
I didn’t cite a single anecdote or personal experience. I made a very specific point not to talk about myself at all. Odd that you would need to resort to false statements to attack me.
I agree with you that we don’t live in a free market economy, and that we are overregulated by state and federal agencies. However, that does not change the fact that certain market forces are still in effect, including the very basic common sense observation that human beings operate on self-interest. If there is more profit to be made by producing apartments than houses, apartments are going to get produced. And since that was the exact message the article itself also said in a much longer form, it’s very strange that you would try to disagree on this point.
I also agree with you that people should do their own research, though I wildly disagree that Flatwater articles provide a good “jumping off point” to do so, as the political bias of the articles will spoil subsequent research if the reader is not paying close attention.
As for rhetorical strategy, I notice you did not say I was actually wrong or that I even arrived at an incorrect analysis. You really seem to have commented only hurl accusations and engage in diversionary sophistry.
The Fallacy Fallacy is the error of assuming a claim is false simply because it was poorly argued or contained a logical fallacy. If someone dismisses an argument as wrong because it is oversimplified or lacks nuance, they may be committing this fallacy if the core claim remains true despite the poor presentation.
The Line-Drawing Fallacy (also known as the Bald Man Fallacy or Sorites Fallacy) occurs when someone improperly rejects a vague or general claim because it is not precise enough to meet their standards. This involves rejecting a statement for lacking specific qualifications or exceptions, which can manifest as a demand for excessive nuance.
Ad Hominem or Tu Quoque fallacies may be invoked if the criticism of nuance is accompanied by personal attacks or accusations of hypocrisy, though these do not specifically address the nuance aspect itself.
Journalism doesn’t help educate readers when the story skips over what professional city planners think and completely ignores how Wall Street and private equity firms are changing the housing game. Instead of looking at the real, systemic issues that are forcing working-class families into apartments, it mostly just focuses on a single young professional who happens to prefer renting. There is a subtle but clear bias toward single living in the article.
While the article provides useful data, it repeats city marketing points instead of scrutinizing public spending. Streetcars driving development is an unproven myth. What is provable is that these stick-frame podium apartments survive on TIF subsidies, siphoning property tax dollars from public services for 15 years or more.
Those are great points Howard! Good on you for being observant!
I have also pointed out many times that Flatwater articles often attempt to deliver a seemingly groundbreaking analysis without consulting a single government agency, professional association, elected representative or other expert source on the topic. Some of the most essential voices that should be consulted with are excluded, most often when their input would likely arrive at a different conclusion than what Flatwater already decided the outcome of the investigation was going to be.
And yes, I also agree very strongly that there was a clear bias in the article.
It’s interesting how there are always a few Flatwater fans who love to attack me when I comment on problems that I have observed with these articles. But at the same time, there are many other users who are pointing out the same problems that I do! I’m rarely the only person who sees a problem with the anecdotal, emotional and shallow analysis Flatwater has made their signature.
Honestly, I find this headline exciting. The shift toward apartments is probably good news, not a crisis. Denser, walkable mid-rise development is dramatically better for the environment than sprawling single-family construction—less land usage, less stretching of infrastructure, and far less car dependence, which is the single biggest environmental impact for most households. A city where people can walk to restaurants and bars, like Maddie Hall describes, is also just a more interesting place to live than one where everyone burns two hours a day commuting to & from West O.
The article (and the series, I imagine, though this is the first I’ve read from it) also leans hard on the assumption that people WANT single-family homes, and are only renting because they have to. But the evidence even in this article indicates otherwise: the 2019 regional study cited found a *mismatch* between what was being built (suburban single-family homes) and what people said they actually wanted, which is walkable urban housing. That’s not proof of forced renting—it’s evidence of unmet demand for exactly what’s *now* becoming more available.
And the “homeownership builds wealth” line quietly assumes continued price appreciation—which is precisely what more housing supply is supposed to prevent. If we succeed at taming prices, forced appreciation stops doing the work. Meanwhile renters who bank the difference between rent and a mortgage payment (taxes, insurance, maintenance, transaction costs) can build wealth just as well through ordinary investing. Maybe that’s the cultural shift worth encouraging, rather than treating ownership as the only legitimate path to financial security.
Matt, I hope Dr. Dave Bennett is reading your comment, because you just became the human embodiment of the “rhetorical strategy” he accused me of using. He probably thinks I summoned you here just to spite him.
I won’t trouble myself to argue with your beliefs that apartment living will save the world.
But I will point out that the overwhelming majority of Nebraskans don’t drive 2 hours for their daily commute. Per the Nebraska Department of Labor, the the average Nebraskan has a commute of 30 minutes or less and is unwilling to accept employment that would require anything longer than that.
You’re pretty much rhetorical strategies all the way down, aren’t you? I never said, for example, that apartment living or anything else would save the world. And before you pull out the “don’t you recognize hyperbole?” defense: Of course I do. I recognize it as the cheap rhetorician’s go-to for producing straw men, as you’ve done here.
Also, the “average Nebraskan” is a red herring when we’re talking about housing and commuting in Omaha. Omaha is an anomaly in the state, in both those realms.
Hyperbole is claiming that it takes 2 hours to commute on O Street, which is in Lincoln, not Omaha…
West O is West Omaha…
Setting aside your use of local jargon (which strangely elected to refer to half a city by the same name as a street in a different city)… What you are saying is that if a hypothetical person commutes from one side of a city to the other, it may take them awhile.
Anecdotal, as I said.
Actual data says most people in Nebraska don’t have that problem. And I choose to believe actual data rather than a clever story told in an anonymous internet comment section.
People who live in Omaha call it West O all the time. Why would (or should) we care if Lincolnites might get confused like you did? What’s strange is that you can’t simply admit that you made a mistake, and turned a misunderstanding into another ridiculous reason to take offense lol
It’s not a “mistake” when 99% of the world is unfamiliar with the local jargon of a single neighborhood. This obscure local ritual only further drives home your inability to see the rest of the world beyond the borders of your urban blight.
Returning to the actual discussion: Your argument is either anecdotal, and/or it proves my own point that big city urbanites prioritize being able to walk to a bar over virtually everything that once compromised the American dream. Either way I have nothing to prove here, because I was never disagreeing with you in the first place. I said people with your beliefs existed, and then you showed up and proved me right.