History of the TLD

.apartments is a generic top‑level domain (gTLD) introduced as part of ICANN’s New gTLD Program. The string was delegated to the DNS root zone on 10 February 2015 and became generally available on 27 May 2015. It was applied for by Donuts (June Maple, LLC) as an open namespace and has been active since that time as a real estate–oriented extension. It is managed by Donuts and operationally supported via registry services agreements under ICANN’s framework.

Main Use and Industry Position

.apartments is positioned for use by participants in the residential property sector with a specific emphasis on apartments. Typical adopters include property managers, apartment developers, rental listing services, local classifieds, and real estate marketing initiatives focused on apartments. This gTLD provides a thematic namespace that can help signal relevance in search and branding for apartment‑related services. 

Comparison to Other TLDs

Compared with legacy gTLDs such as .com or .net, .apartments is more niche‑oriented. While .com remains universal for all purposes, .apartments allows property‑related entities to communicate their focus directly through the domain extension. Compared with other real estate‑focused new gTLDs such as .properties or .realestate, .apartments is more specific to residential apartment usage rather than broader property markets. In contrast to country code TLDs (ccTLDs) such as .au or .uk, .apartments does not carry geographic restrictions. 

Pros and Cons of the TLD

Pros

• Signals apartment‑specific focus that can improve industry relevance
  

• Available on a first‑come, first‑served basis with broad eligibility
  

• Supports modern DNS features including DNSSEC and IDNs
  

Cons

• Not as universally recognized as .com or other legacy extensions
  

• Pricing can vary significantly across registrars
  

• Limited to real estate context (less flexible for unrelated sectors)
  
  

Registration Criteria

Open to any individual or organization without restrictive eligibility requirements. Registration is typically first‑come, first‑served with standard domain name character rules (letters, numbers, hyphens) and supports IDN.

Summary

.apartments is a niche generic top‑level domain introduced in 2015 to serve entities and individuals focused on apartments and related residential property services. It is broadly available with standard gTLD technical support and offers branding benefits for real estate marketers looking for thematic online presence.