Like in NYC, National Vacancy Rates are Dropping

While Manhattan has flirting with 1% and lower vacancy rates for the last few months, the rest of the country has been on the decline as well.  In the top 64 markets in the US, apartment specific vacancy has dropped from over 8.2% to 6.6% since 2009.  That is a 25% drop in availabilities.   In Amy Hoak’s article on Marketwatch.com, much of the reason for the drop pertains to people feeling more confident about the job market and thus willing to leave home and the parents or to split up the gang and get your own place.   While this a fairly positive reason for falling vacancies, another may be that people are still too wary to buy a place and are thus renting which is more common in apartments – they tend to be more transient.

If you include all markets and all types of homes, vacancy is closer to 10.6%.  That is about 35x MORE availability than the West Village.