That has resulted in some of the lowest apartment vacancy rates, well below the national average. “We keep hearing that the apartment market is frothy, overbuilt,” Florance said. But the numbers don’t bear that out.

However, most properties being built are for renters who earn more than $75,000 a year, which has led to a shortage of workforce housing here and elsewhere. Also, in the next four years, millennials will reach their peak childbearing years, so the one-bedroom apartments won’t work anymore, he said.

“There are a lot more households being formed than roofs being built,” Florance said. In the Richmond area, the deficit of housing units — whether a single-family home or an apartment — is at least 20,000 units, he said.

“There is an opportunity to meet demand for new housing even this late in the economic expansion,” Florance said.

In 2016, it looked like the country was slipping into a recession. “But we’ve pulled out of that, and things look pretty good. ... These are the good times.”

Typical expansions last two to seven years. The country is in the eighth year. “The reality is we are in a mature economy.”