RealEstateJournal | Rents Rise, Vacancies Drop As Apartments Join the Boom

By Michael Corkery
From The Wall Street Journal Online

The real estate boom has been very good to property owners of all types. But apartment landlords have largely missed the party as low interest rates and the prospect of rising home prices turned thousands of would-be renters into buyers.

Vacant apartments often stayed empty until the landlord lowered the rent. "In some cases we were giving away $50 to $100 in [monthly] rent to keep people coming in the door," says Warren Rose, whose family business owns 52,000 apartments in mostly small cities around the country.

Now that is slowly changing. Vacancy rates are dropping and rents are rising in many parts of the country. About 18 months ago, tenants started trickling back into Mr. Rose's apartments in Virginia and then to his units in the Midwest. These days, he has been able to reduce concessions to renters and his occupancy is rising modestly. "It appears that a recovery is happening," says Mr. Rose, chief operating officer of Edward Rose & Sons, based in Farmington Hills, Mich. "But time will tell."

RealEstateJournal | Rents Rise, Vacancies Drop As Apartments Join the Boom