on 1/21/02 9:24 AM, Craig Miller at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Was I the only one who noticed the rental vacancy rate has gone from 2.1% to > 4% in just one quarter? And that figure is going to keep climbing. > <snip> > The affordable housing crisis has passed.
Craig, let me play devil's advocate here...I just did a story for this week's Skyway News (www.skywaynews.net), on the 4th-quarter 2001 Downtown apartment market. The story is rising vacancy rates...but no falling prices, yet. Apparently, for a little while anyway, landlords are willing to tolerate a higher un-rented inventory rather than offer long-term rent breaks...they, like many investors, are betting the post-9/11 dip is shallow and quick. I worry that some are making a mistake equating rising vacancy rates with the end of the affordable housing problem. I'm pretty sure if vacancies persist, prices will come down...however, will they come down enough to put enough rental housing into the "affordable" category, either by metro/city median or 30% of gross-income measurements? I suspect a lot of what's happening is those who can afford higher-than-affordable rents - the kind I used to pay - are getting the big big break right now. Anyway, I need price data, not just vacancy data, to declare the crisis over. David Brauer King Field - Ward 10 _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
