Rental Market Picks Up Across Nation

The nation’s apartment market is slowly mending after a nearly four-year slump, which is good news for apartment owners but potentially bad news for renters, reports The Wall Street Journal. The vacancy rate for the top 64 metropolitan apartment markets in the U.S. fell to an average of 6.6% in the first quarter, from 6.7% in the fourth quarter and 7.1% in the year-earlier quarter, according to new quarterly statistics from Reis Inc., a New York-based real-estate research firm. Rents also rose in the quarter. The number of new leases signed and the increase in rents in the first quarter mark the apartment industry’s strongest performances in those categories since 2001, when the rental market began its slide. The U.S. apartment market has been hurt by low mortgage rates that turned some would-be renters into home buyers, a weak job market that cooled tenant demand, and oversupply in some areas. The national apartment vacancy rate rose to an average of 6.7% in 2004 from 3.1% in 2000.
Comment: Support for housing prices or momentum away from ownership?
Apartment Market Shows Signs of Life [Wall Street Journal]