Home sales still may be sluggish, but if you look at the data for more than 60 metro areas around the country, you will see that apartment rental occupancies shot up by more than 200,000 units in the first six months of this year.
It means that renters can expect complex owners to try to raise rates, and builders and investors may see opportunities to build again. In Northern California, for example, the North Bay Business Journal reports:
[are renting].
The Dallas Morning News found:
“Net apartment leasing in Dallas-Fort Worth topped 9,400 units in the second quarter, according to the latest estimate by analysts at MPF Research.
“So far in 2010, apartment occupancy in the D-FW area has jumped by more than 15,000 units, the best performance in five years.”
The website Multifamily Executive, aimed at apartment complex investors, says midsized towns like Columbus, Ohio, and Louisville, Ky., are primed for a growth in new development of apartments. In some cities where construction dried up for a couple of years, there may be a shortage of rental spaces.
