JOPLIN, Mo. — Drive around the Joplin area and it won’t take you long to see there’s a building boom going on.

Houses aren’t the only type of living space that’s in demand.

There are already hundreds of occupied apartments in and around 20th and Connecticut in Joplin, and many more are underway.

At least two different companies, Redwood Development, and Mayberry Construction are in the process of adding more units in that area.

“I believe that those, all those apartments that are going up are going to be full,” said Alisha Nunnelly, Realtor.

Realtor Alisha Nunnelly says all that construction is an indicator of the economic health of the Joplin region.

“There’s a huge amount of people moving into the area, also with the Dental School and the Medical School in that area, where a lot of those apartments are going up they’re gonna need, they need, definitely need some place to live,” said Alisha Nunnelly, Realtor.

Not all that growth comes from students coming into the region, Memorial Hills Two, is a senior community under construction a short distance away from the original structure.

“I Believe it’s higher than it’s ever been yes,” said Nunnelly.

She says that rental property as a whole is in demand, not just apartments, and she says an influx of people from hundreds of miles away is helping to fuel that need.

“There is still a big huge need for rental homes aside from apartments because the homes offer a lot of privacy and things that people in apartments don’t have so there’s still a need for single-family homes as well as the apartments,” said Nunnelly.