In major metropolitan areas and small cities across the U.S., there is a high demand for apartment living. One of the areas of greatest needs is currently in the biggest oil and gas-producing regions of the country. Recent oil and natural gas booms in some cities have resulted in a shortage of housing for thousands of workers – both those who work directly in the oilfields as well as the thousands of support workers. In these regions, apartments have come to the rescue of the workers in need.
Take Midland, Texas, in the heart of the Permian Basin, which accounts for 14 percent of the nation’s oil production. Population there swelled by 8 percent from 2010 to 2012, surpassing 145,000 in 2013.
Likewise, in Williston, N.D., more than 30,000 live in the small city and another 50,000 are being served by its infrastructure, thanks to the oil boom from the Bakken shale formation. Compare that to the 14,700 residents who lived there in 2010.
The flood of workers to the region in such a short time period has led to a housing shortage and Williston apartments sport the highest rents in the nation – even higher than New York City. The average 700-square-foot, one bedroom apartment is renting for around $2,400.
In addition to quickly building apartment communities in Williston and Midland, multifamily housing providers are adding apartments in other up-and-coming cities in the various oil-producing regions of the U.S. For example, the discovery that Colorado’s Niobrara shale was oil-rich and easy-to-drill fueled nearly $4 billion in spending in 2013 by top oil companies, which say they have plans to drill even more in 2014.
As a result, Greeley’s 1.3 percent apartment vacancy rate is the lowest it has been in nearly 20 years, and apartment builders are working quickly to fill demand throughout Colorado.
It is clear that apartment homes are the best way to house those who work directly in the oilfields and their families. “Man camps” and temporary housing do the job for a limited period of time, for single individuals who move to these oil-producing regions and can’t find another place to live. However, this is not the long-term lifestyle that anyone wants.
It is apartment communities that are quickly coming to the rescue of these workers, who have moved to new cities from all over the U.S. and the world. They are the ones providing a safe, warm place for individuals and families to create a home for themselves. They now have a place to cook dinner for themselves. They now have a place to bring their families to, instead of being forced to leave their families back home.
Still, because housing is in such high demand in these oil-rich regions of the U.S., it is imperative for oil companies and their workers to be able to find the right apartments quickly. That is where apartment-locating services such as ApartmentSearch come in. ApartmentSearch’s knowledgeable staff takes the guesswork out of finding housing and employee relocation. ApartmentSearch’s comprehensive database of available apartments in every state lets businesses and individuals in need know about new communities coming online as well as existing available apartments available.
