Michael L. Manelis
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Equity Residential
Thanks, Mark. This morning I will provide highlights on how we finished the year and give you some color on 2022 revenue guidance and market performance. So first, a big thank you to our teams across the country who have worked so hard during these trying times to deliver these results and are all geared up to make 2022 a terrific year for Equity Residential.
The recovery continues despite the presence of the Omicron variant and noise from uncertainty in back to the office plans with tremendous demand to live at our properties both urban and suburban. We see reopened restaurants, entertainment venues and other lifestyle amenities as attracting our affluent resident base without regard to continuing low office occupancy rates. Absence of government mandated closure of businesses and cities which we see is unlikely, the lifestyle that our residents crave is again available in most of our markets and our residents are voting with their feet and pocket books to be in these locations whether they anticipate working fully remote, hybrid or fully in the office.
Interestingly, we see a little less of this trend in our tech-heavy Seattle and San Francisco markets which I will discuss in a moment. We are currently 96.5% occupied and it is on track to deliver about 13.5% achieved new lease growth in January after posting just over 10.5% in the fourth quarter. We reported the lowest turnover in our history for both the fourth quarter and full year 2021 which reaffirms the desirability of our product as our residents signed renewals at record levels with increases that average nearly 11% in the quarter.
In addition, our residents received $32 million in rent relief with $15 million of that received in the fourth quarter. This performance has positioned us well for 2022 and what we believe will be the best same-store revenue growth in our history. The majority of our 9% same-store revenue growth at the midpoint is coming from resetting existing leases at current market rates. As of January 1, 83% of our residents were paying on average rents that are about 11% below our current market prices. As we have discussed in the past, we won't be able to capture all of this loss to lease in 2022 because leases will reset over the course of the year, either through new move-ins or renewals and there are currently a few regulations that cap our allowable increases.
In addition to capturing this reset, we are anticipating intra-year growth in rates that is more reflective of typical seasonal growth than the steep growth we experienced during the 2021 pandemic recovery year. Strong, continued physical occupancy, particularly relative to the comparably weaker period and early 2021 is also a contributor with the remaining growth projected to come from lower bad debt, improved on residential revenues and other income. So far we continue to see strong retention with the percent of residents renewing expected to be just over 60% in both January and February.
We may see some moderation from this high level as the year goes on, but interestingly in Q4, we did not see much disparity and renewal percent per deal seekers those residents who had a concession on their current lease versus non-deal seekers, meaning many of our residents are deciding to stay put, regardless of the rent increase. While the world remains an uncertain place, we feel good about this expected pricing power given our net effective pricing trend is currently 27% over 2021 levels and 7% over the same pre-pandemic week in 2020. A key driver of this improvement is the sizable reduction in concession use in our portfolio, which is nearly non-existent with the exception of Seattle that I will get to in a moment as I provide color on the markets and how they are expected to contribute to 2022.
Beginning with Boston, which is following a normal seasonal pattern with improving demand and pricing heading towards the spring. Overall, we're 96% occupied today with a drag from the urban core at 95.5 versus the remainder of the market, which is above 96%. With strong continued demand from lab and life sciences, financial firms, healthcare and education, and very little competition from new supply, we expect this market to produce same-store revenue growth of approximately 10% in 2022.
Another positive note is that we continue to see a return of international students and workers to the market. After a difficult period early in the pandemic, the quick turnaround of the New York market has been really amazing. We expect New York to be our best performing market in 2022 with same-store revenue growth of approximately 13%, despite some expected pressure from new supply and the Jersey Waterfront in Brooklyn. Demand is very strong and we have been renewing about 65% of our residents, occupancy remains above 97%, rates continue to improve, concessions are not being used and pricing is currently 11% over pre-pandemic pricing levels.
We expect that Washington DC will be a solid performer in 2022 but will end up as one of our lower producing revenue growth markets at about 4%. This market held up the best of our East Coast markets during the pandemic and so does not have the same ground to make up. This market also continues to deliver 12,000 or so new units each year. Absorption of Class A multifamily has been really strong even during the pandemic, making us optimistic that this absorption trend will continue. Occupancy is steady at 97% and rental rates are following a slightly better than expected normal seasonal pattern here.
Moving to the West Coast, both of our tech-heavy market Seattle and San Francisco have been slower to recover than other markets. While there is certainly demand, the downtown submarkets are 93% and 96% occupied, respectively. The ambiguity and return to office by big tech employers and quality of life challenges are deferring a fuller recovery. We expect that the quality of life issues will improve through a combination of civic engagement and having more activated streetscapes. The tech companies have a role to play here as they balance their growth plans versus employee preferences for work from home in a highly competitive job market.
It appears likely that the balance will be met by a hybrid work model which should benefit our business in these markets. But until there is more certainty, some employees will be hesitant to make housing decisions. Longer term, the overall drivers of demand remain positive and we would expect the urban centers of these markets to fully recover because they remain attractive to the many affluent renters that want to enjoy an urban lifestyle there. Also, the tech giants continue to accumulate large amounts of office space, whether through leases or whole building purchases, which indicates that their long-term plans involve some level of in-office.
We're optimistic about Seattle's recovery and expect the market to produce same-store revenue growth of approximately 10% in 2022. Our expectations are predicated on the CBD where we have a large concentrations of assets recovering in the back half of the year. Demand is improving, initial lead in tour volume has ramped up past 2021 levels, but our on-site teams are reporting a lack of sense of urgency from potential renters to sign leases right now. Occupancy has rebounded slightly to just over 94.5%. This market is the primary user of concessions in our portfolio with currently about a third of our applications receiving on average just over one month free.
Heading down to San Francisco, we are seeing good demand, but do not yet have a lot of pricing power. We expect to produce same-store revenue growth of approximately 7% in 2022. San Francisco continues to be the only market in our portfolio that has not gotten back to pre-pandemic pricing levels as we are currently 6% below the same week in 2020. Occupancy is holding steady at 96.5% and we are renewing just under 60% of our residents. Los Angeles continues to be a solid performer with demand driven by a robust return of the online content industry. Occupancy is running at 97%, pricing power is strong. We expect the market to produce same-store revenue growth of approximately 9% for the year.
The percent of residents renewing is the highest we have seen likely due to the impact of local regulations, we expect to continue to renew 65% to 70% of our residents here. Both Orange County and San Diego continue to show remarkable performance with high occupancy and strong retention supporting very good new lease rents. We expect these markets to produce same-store revenue growth of 10% or greater in the year. In Denver, we have very good demand and expect the market to produce same-store revenue growth of approximately 9% in 2022. Occupancy is strong at 97% and we're renewing about 50% of our residents.
Lastly, a few thoughts on our additional expansion markets of Atlanta, Dallas, and Austin. So far, our newly acquired assets are performing well. Demand remains robust and occupancy levels are high. The expansion markets have seen good growth throughout the pandemic, and we expect that growth to continue in 2022. This is an exciting time for the industry and the overall operations of our company.
Thank you. I will now turn the call over to Bob Garechana.
