Apartment Vacancy Rate at 22-Year High

New York, NY, July 8, 2009--The apartment vacancy rate in the U.S. reached a 22-year high in the second quarter as rising unemployment reduced demand during what is usually the peak leasing season.

According to Reis Inc., a New York real-estate research firm, rents fell the fastest in markets that have shed white-collar jobs, such as New York and San Jose, Calif., and in markets where many foreclosed homes and condominiums have been turned into rental property, including Las Vegas and Orange County, Calif.

Vacancy levels nationally rose to 7.5% in the April-to-June period, up from 6.1% a year earlier. Of the 79 markets tracked by Reis, 45 showed an increase in vacancies.

Generally more rental units turn over during the spring and summer than in any other time of the year, which means that the declines could have an outsized impact on revenue for apartment owners.

"Everybody expected spring leasing to save apartment landlords. That hasn't happened," said Victor Calanog, director of research at Reis.

The housing downturn initially offered landlords the chance to lure troubled homeowners into the rental market. But the pace of job losses shattered any inroads that apartments might have gained from the housing bust. Apartment vacancies began to rise at the end of 2007 before accelerating further as the economy deteriorated last fall.

Rents, meanwhile, are falling at the fastest pace in at least a decade. Effective rents, which include landlord concessions such as one month free rent, fell 1.1% in the first quarter and 0.9% in the second quarter to an average of $975 a month. The combined decline for the first half of the year was the largest since Reis began tracking the data in 1999.