U.S. Apartment Vacancies Reach 6.1 Percent as Rent Growth Slows

Bloomberg (10/06/08); Green, Peter S.
Reis Inc. reports that the third-quarter vacancy rate for U.S. rental apartment communities climbed to 6.1 percent, while the average monthly asking rent increased 0.6 percent to $1,053--the 26th consecutive quarter that rents rose or did not budge. Vacancies are on the rise partly because of a lack of jobs for recent college graduates, a trend punctuated by the fact that the United States shed 159,000 jobs last month. Reis chief economist Sam Chandan notes, "Twenty- to 30-year-olds are about 70 percent renters ... [and] when they are not finding jobs, they are not renting either.'' Geographically, New York posted the highest average U.S. rent at $2,855 a month, followed by such markets as San Francisco at $1,827 and Boston at $1,660.