The vacancy rate for U.S. apartments reached its highest level in more than 20 years...Note: the Reis numbers are for cities. The overall vacancy rate from the Census Bureau was at 10.1% in Q1 2009. This fits with the NMHC apartment market survey.
The national vacancy rate rose to 7.5 percent ... The record high was 7.8 percent in 1986.
"We are reaching that historic high very quickly," said Victor Calanog, Reis director of research.
... effective rent was down 1.9 percent from the prior year and 0.9 percent from the first quarter to $975, Reis said.
... "With general expectations of an economic recovery pushed back to early 2010 at the earliest, it seems likely that apartments will have to endure a few more quarters of distress, lower rents and higher vacancies," Calanog said.
Rising vacancies. Falling Rents. This time for apartments ...