02Feb

Apartment Vacancy Rate falls to 5.2% to 2001 Level

5 comments so far

The nation’s apartment-vacancy rate in the fourth quarter fell to its lowest level since late 2001 as Americans continued to favor renting homes instead of buying them.

Reis Apartment Vacancy Rate (click to enlarge)

In the fourth quarter, the vacancy rate fell to 5.2% from 6.6% a year earlier and 5.6% at the end of the third quarter, according to Reis.

During the depths of the downturn, landlords had to offer incentives such as flat-screen TVs and months with no rent to attract tenants. However, in the fourth quarter of 2011, landlords in 71 of the 82 of the markets that Reis follows were able to raise rents. Nationwide, landlords raised asking rents an average of 0.4% in the fourth quarter, to $1,064 a month. That’s up from $1,026 in 2009.

 

A few key points we’ve been talking about in throughout 2011:

  • Vacancy Rates are falling
  • Rents are rising
  • A record low number of multi-family units (apartments) were completed in 2011
  • Multi-family starts are increasing, and that is helping both GDP and employment growth this year. These new starts will not be completed until 2012 or 2013, so vacancy rates will probably continue to decline.

Read the original Wall Street Journal Article.

Categories: buy house in usa, buying property in usa, NEWS

Thursday, February 2nd, 2012 at 9:33 am and is filed under buy house in usa, buying property in usa, NEWS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

5 Responses to “Apartment Vacancy Rate falls to 5.2% to 2001 Level”

  1. Posted by Denise 14th February, 2012 at 9:46 am

    Thanks for making the effort to explain the terminlogy for the novices!

  2. Posted by real estate miami beach 2nd March, 2012 at 5:59 am

    I think from now these conditions are changing frequently as the market values of properties stabled again in USA.

  3. Posted by Ricky 4th March, 2012 at 3:36 am

    Hi Author, I keep reading your post and really support you posting your experience here.
    Can you share the return and experience more on your Topeka, KS property?

    Thank you.

  4. Posted by admin 27th March, 2012 at 3:39 am

    Thanks Ricky, I will put the numbers up soon. It’s been a year now since I own the property in Topeka. The returns weren’t good at all though – since all of the previous tenants had to be evicted and all the units renovated afterwards. Hopefully this year will be better!

  5. Posted by Janine Y 31st March, 2012 at 5:31 pm

    Hi! Have read your blog with great interest, learn a lot. I just bought a condo in Florida. Planning to buy more, is it the time to go in? Hope your investments gain momentum, you are taking calculated risks and one day the dividends will pay.
    BTW you know economics, right? I still can´t grasp some of the terminologies…
    Best regards, keep us in touch..I just can´t stop reading your blog…

  • Meta